By Michael Stets
ALLEN PARK — The Lions’ best pass rusher has been cleared to return to practice.
The Lions announced on Monday that Ziggy Ansah has been removed from the active/physically unable to perform list and will return to practice.
Ansah, who had knee surgery after the 2017 season and was held out of action during the spring, was placed on the PUP list at the start of training camp for the second year in a row. He missed all of last year’s camp and didn’t return to practice until a few days before the season opener.
After an injury-plagued 2016 season where he missed three games and had just two sacks, Ansah posted 12 sacks in 2017, while missing two games and battling multiple injuries once more. And nine of those 12 sacks came in three games.
Ansah and Lions did not come to terms on a new deal before the July 16 deadline, so the veteran defensive end will play his sixth NFL season in Detroit under the franchise tender he signed back in April, worth a little over $17.1 million.
When healthy, Ansah has proven to be a force for the Lions’ defense. But he hasn’t been able to return to the high level he played at in 2015 when he recorded 14.5 sacks and made the Pro Bowl.
Despite that, he remains the team’s best pass rusher and getting him back nine days into camp is a good sign for the Lions, who are revamping the defense under new head coach Matt Patricia and defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni.