Thursday open thread: How old is Ezekiel Ansah?

... throwin’ down ain’t nothin’ but a thang.

With not much to keep the Lions in the news other than making undoubtedly bold predictions, swapping out team colors, or using better statistics to paint a prettier—and more accurate—picture of the Lions offense of 2016, a controversy over a date of birth is just the bit of news to keep things interesting.

The “multiple reports” MLive’s Kyle Meinke is referring to can be found here and here. Both articles make mention of Ansah being 29 years old, but according to the Lions official website, Ansah is still the ripe age of 27. This discrepancy in Ansah’s age comes with peculiar timing: Ziggy is entering the final season of his contract and the Lions are most likely interested in extending the supremely talented edge rusher.

Grab your tinfoil hats and unwind your twine for those evidence boards to prep yourself for today’s Question of the Day:

How old is Ezekiel Ansah?

My answer: I’m all about a good conspiracy, believe me, but the Lions say he’s 27, and Ansah provided a passport to confirm his age. Scouts said that he looked older than 23 during their evaluation of the former BYU standout, but any person standing near 6-foot-5 and almost 275 pounds is going to throw you through a loop. No one questioned whether or not Greg Oden was 19 years old coming out of Ohio State, and that guy looked like he could have hooped with Russell’s Celtics or Chamberlain’s Lakers.

At the end of the day, Ansah has always looked like a man among boys. Before a nagging ankle injury robbed him of his burst last season, Ziggy wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down—he set a career high with 14.5 sacks in the 2015 season.