# Lions rookie Skyler Gill-Howard is beating the odds … again
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The Detroit Lions had 59 players in uniform for their preseason opener against the Cincinnati Bengals.
So many performances to evaluate, so many plays to remember, so many themes to cover, and after delivering a few platitudes about how he was proud of the way practice translated to the field, this is how coach Dan Campbell opened his postgame press conference: “Just off the top of my head, one of my favorites was watching (Skyler Gill-Howard) run down the quarterback, force a critical fourth down, give the offense the ball back. It’s the little stuff like that; that takes a tremendous amount of effort. … That was awesome.”
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In 38 snaps against Cincinnati, and particularly on that one, Gill-Howard (6 feet, 280 pounds) started to show something about his play that those who have watched and coached him already knew.
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“You’re not going to outwork him,” said Jordan Gigli, who oversaw Gill-Howard’s transition from linebacker to defensive line at Northern Illinois.
The play where he chased down Johnson revealed a lot about his football character and a little bit about his athleticism, but it probably wasn’t his most physically impressive rep of the night.
On his final play of the first half, Gill-Howard used a lightning-fast inside move to blow past Bengals guard Jalen Rivers like a house on the side of the road, forcing Johnson into an intentional grounding on fourth down. The loss of 13 and turnover on downs gave the Lions a chance to add another field goal as time expired, another scoreboard-altering play
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The motor he’s put on display, combined with the raw talent he possesses, makes it feel as though it’s a matter of when, not if, he’ll be able to contribute to this team in the regular season, which isn’t always the case for a sixth-round pick, and especially not an undersized one.
“I like the fact that he’s got a little chip on his shoulder. He’s got something to prove,” Campbell said. “And I think he feels like he belongs, which he should.”
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Gigli said Gill-Howard “plays harder than anyone I’ve ever coached in my 24 years of coaching college football.”
“His motor, his relentlessness, it’s unmatched. I haven’t seen it. I haven’t seen it,” Gigli added.
These words mean the world to Gill-Howard. When he arrived at NIU, he was like a fish out of water. Gigli’s belief got him through it.
“Him trying to teach me D-line, it was a struggle at first,” Gill-Howard said. “… I went through some tough times, but I mean, that’s amazing to hear. It’s such an honor, especially from him, because he’s the one that shaped me into the player that I am today. Without him, I probably wouldn’t be standing…on this field with the Detroit Lions.”
Naturally, his journey at Texas Tech wasn’t all roses, either. An ankle injury limited him to just six games, and he finished with just 13 tackles, 2½ for loss, and a half-sack. At his pro day, his athletic testing produced a mediocre 5.61 Relative Athletic Score. The fact that he was even drafted at all, No. 205 overall, is almost another amazing feat in its own right.
And to play for Campbell of all people? What a match made in heaven.
“Obviously, they traded for the pick to grab me. They had a lot of confidence in me,” Gill-Howard said. "My main thing is proving it to them that I can go out there and do what they need me to do and more. … Coach Campbell is a guy you want to play for, a guy you want to go to war with.
“I’d die for this team.”
