Lions’ LB Williams, DE Washington next men up after defensive injuries

DETROIT — Two of the Lions’ most hotly contested position battles essentially came to an end this week, and neither winner was happy about how he got his job.

Antwione Williams is expected to emerge as the Lions’ starting strong-side linebacker now that Brandon Copeland is out for the season with a torn pectoral muscle, and Cornelius Washington is likely to assume Kerry Hyder’s starting spot at defensive end after Hyder suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon.

Both players took first-team reps at their respective positions on Wednesday, the Lions’ first full practice after Copeland and Hyder left Sunday’s preseason opener against the Indianapolis Colts with injuries.

“Of course I don’t like how this is going down,” Washington said. “I was expecting to have to battle Kerry for the spot, but we still got some young guys coming up. Alex (Barrett) is playing very well, so it’s not going to be easy by a long shot. But like I said, it’s not the way I wanted it to happen, but it seems like that’s the way it’s going to go.”

Williams is the slightly more known commodity of the two, at least to Lions fans.

A fifth-round pick out of Georgia Southern last year, Williams appeared in 14 games and made three starts as a rookie. He had 27 tackles last year and played every linebacker position as the Lions shuffled through personnel on a short-handed defense.

Entering his second season, Williams, who started last week against the Colts, said he feels like a completely different player from last year.

“Things are going much better,” he said. “I can visualize things much better, but for the most part it’s really just trying to build onto my game. There’s still stuff I can work on, especially like at the nine technique or the SAM position. There’s a lot of stuff I can do to improve it.”

The Lions’ SAM or strongside linebacker is asked to rush the quarterback at times from a defensive end-type position, which is where Copeland’s experience as a defensive end would have been valuable.

Williams played exclusively as an off-the-ball linebacker in college, but he said pass rushing is a developing part of his game.

“I got the length for it, so definitely I can beat somebody,” Williams said. “If I can add that pass rushing to my game that can be just even more lethal for our defense.”

Injuries have eroded the Lions’ depth at the pass-rusher positions, and that’s why Hyder’s absence could be so detrimental this fall.

Hyder led the team with eight sacks last year, and potential replacements Washington and Anthony Zettel have four sacks in their combined five career NFL seasons.

Zettel has played primarily at right end this summer with Ziggy Ansah on the physically unable to perform list, though he moved to left end (with Washington on the right side) in practice Wednesday.