Lions like the look of Caraun Reid

Of the five defensive tackles who finished the 2014 season on the Detroit Lions' roster, only Caraun Reid is still on the team. Ndamukong Suh and Nick Fairley departed for other teams this offseason, and C.J. Mosley and Andre Fluellen remain unsigned.

The Lions' new cast of defensive tackles includes Haloti Ngata, Tyrunn Walker and Gabe Wright. Ngata and Walker are expected to be the two starters, and Wright should be an important member of the rotation at defensive tackle.

But what about Reid? Despite being the lone holdover from last season at defensive tackle, he has sort of been overlooked this offseason. I suppose that makes sense considering he only played 112 snaps in 12 games last season, and he did only have two tackles all year. However, Reid practiced with the first-team defense during the Lions' OTAs last week, and he drew praise from head coach Jim Caldwell:

"When you talk about two guys that came back different physically this time of year than last year, Caraun's one of those. Eric's (Ebron) one, obviously, and Caraun's the other. I think he's done a tremendous job just in terms of his approach to it. He looks good, increased his strength, his lean muscle has gone up, I mean, the whole gamut. So, hopefully we'll see that translate when we get an opportunity to go out there and go after it."

Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin had similar things to say about Reid, praising the shape he's in and the way he looks right now. Austin also mentioned that it will be more important to see how Reid looks once the Lions start practicing in pads in the summer, but at least by OTA standards, both him and Caldwell like what they've seen so far. That's a good sign for Reid as he tries to break into the defensive tackle rotation in his second year in the league.