Wonnum's Discipline Issues Land in the Worst Possible Place

DJ Wonnum is listed active, so there's no injury to report here. What there is: a discipline problem attaching itself to the one defensive end Detroit actually plays. The depth chart behind him — Eric O'Neill and Levi Onwuzurike — has logged essentially no meaningful snaps this season. If Wonnum misses time to suspension or game-day discipline, the Lions are asking someone who hasn't really played to fill in at a position that was already flagged as thin.

That's the specific problem. Detroit carries one functional defensive end. A typical rotation runs two or more. That gap existed before any discipline question entered the picture, and it's the reason a Wonnum absence, even a short one, lands harder here than it would on most rosters.

The Lions have had a lot of these conversations this year — about Arnold, about Branch, about the secondary generally. My read is the Wonnum situation is smaller than those, for now, because he's still active and on the field. But the margin for error at defensive end is about as thin as it gets, and anything that puts his availability in question is worth watching closely over the next week or two.