Michael Rothstein, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Lions midseason review: Linebackers

During the bye week that conveniently comes at the midway point of the season, we'll review each Detroit Lions position group.

Major moves in the first half: Lost Stephen Tulloch to a season-ending knee injury. Placed Travis Lewis on injured reserve with a quad injury. Had Kyle Van Noy sit out the first eight games with a core muscle injury. Signed Josh Bynes and Julian Stanford.

What has worked: DeAndre Levy has continued his ascent into one of the top groups of linebackers in the NFL. His sideline-to-sideline speed has been impressive and his instincts often put him right at the point of contact for either rushing plays or short routes. His coverage continues to be strong and he has taken over Tulloch's role by calling defenses before the play.

Josh Bynes ended up being a strong signing for the Lions on both special teams and on defense, where he has been taking some snaps from Tahir Whitehead every week next to Levy. Whitehead still plays the majority of snaps and has filled in about as well as expected for Tulloch, but Bynes is definitely pushing him for time a little bit.

The Lions, prior to Tulloch's injury, had been doing well rushing the passer from the linebacker spot, specifically with Tulloch. Of course, that's how Tulloch's season ended -- celebrating a sack of Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

What has not: Injuries have hampered this unit. The Lions still haven't seen once-projected starter Kyle Van Noy and Tulloch won't be back with the Lions this season.

Whitehead has had moments where he has been out of position – more and more as games have gone on. He has been effective, but not as good as Tulloch would have been in the spot.

Ashlee Palmer, who ended up as the starting SAM linebacker by default when Van Noy was out for eight weeks and Whitehead had to slide over to play Tulloch's spot in the middle. Palmer still struggles with play-action from time-to-time and does get beat, but he has been good in run support.

When he gets caught in passing or play-action, it doesn't go nearly as well.

Prognosis: This unit might be the one that shifts the most at the start of the second half of the season. Bynes appears to be playing his way into a somewhat larger role in the linebacking corps and it'll be interesting to see how fast they push Van Noy into the lineup.

Van Noy was inconsistent in the preseason as the second-round pick would sometimes take bad routes on pass rush. But he was still getting acclimated to the pro game at that point -- something likely taking the whole season at this stage.

If he picks everything up quicker than expected, he could end up being an upgrade on the defense in 4-3 situations over Palmer.

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