Time flies and CB Amani Oruwariye is already heading into the final year of his four-year rookie deal with the Detroit Lions.
During his first three seasons in the league, Oruwariye has progressively been more and more productive with the Lions, including intercepting six passes in 2021, while adding another 11 passes defended.
On Wednesday, Oruwariye spoke with the media and when he was asked whether he would like to sign a long-term deal with the Lions, he was straight to the point.
“Absolutely,” Oruwariye said. “I love Detroit, I love being here, I love everything it’s given me. … Ideally, that’s where I want to be at.”
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Heading into the 2022 season, Amani is expected to start opposite Jeff Okudah, who is returning to the field after suffering a torn Achilles tendon in 2021.
Amani Oruwariye on whether he'd like to sign a long-term deal with the Lions: "Absolutely. I love Detroit, I love being here, I love everything it’s given me. … Ideally, that’s where I want to be at."
— Chris Burke (@ChrisBurkeNFL) May 11, 2022
From Detroit News:
“My focus has mostly been on just getting back around the guys,” Oruwariye said Wednesday after one of the team’s early OTA sessions. “I kind of leave that between them and my agent. But I’m happy to be in a position to be even having those kind of talks, but I just try not to worry about it and worry about the season coming up.”
Amari also commented on the Lions adding to their pass rush by selecting Aidan Hutchinson with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
“It’s huge,” Oruwariye said. “It’ll be great for the pass rush, it’ll be huge for the run-stopping as well. But as a corner, we’re pretty happy to see guys like that in front of us. Less time having to cover some of these elite receivers out there. When you put it all together, it just ultimately will help us and our defense as a whole.”
Earlier this month, Dave Birket of the Detroit Free Press reported that general manager Brad Holmes confirmed to him that the Lions “have had internal discussions” regarding Oruwariye.
Oruwariye, who is 26, was a fifth-round pick of the Lions back in 2019.