After he enjoyed a breakout season, the Lions let it be known they were considering an extension with cornerback Amani Oruwariye. As detailed by Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the desire to get a deal done is mutual. 
[RELATED: Lions Discussing Oruwariye Extension]
“Yeah, I love Detroit” the 26-year-old said when asked about his intention of signing long-term. “I mean, I love being here. I love everything it’s given me. It’s given me a chance to play in the NFL, so ideally that’s where I want to be at. But we’ll see.”
A fifth round pick in 2019, Oruwariye recorded a pair of interceptions in his rookie season, but it wasn’t until the following year that he became a full-time starter. He played a career-high 1,028 snaps in 2020, taking significant strides in pass coverage. That set the stage for this past campaign.
Stepping into the No. 1 role as a result of Jeff Okudah‘s torn Achilles, Oruwariye set career highs across the board in tackles (57), interceptions (six) and passes defensed (11), continuing to improve nearly all of his coverage statistics along the way. His level of play made him a strong candidate for an extension, so it came as little surprise when general manager Brad Holmes said the team was considering offering him one.
“Obviously, with Amani, with the ball production that he had, and just being a good teammate – he’s really developed as a leader” he said when discussing the subject last month. “He’s still a young guy… There’s still upside in him.”
If Oruwariye does land a second contract, he will likely earn a considerable raise from the $2.54MM he is due in 2022. While the team could wait one more season to extend him, doing so could ultimately drive his asking price up, if he continues his current career trajectory.
“Obviously, with Amani, with the ball production that he had, and just being a good teammate – he’s really developed as a leader” Same can’t be said about R. Tannehill!
It’s true that Oruwariye intercepted more passes than Tannehill did last year, yes.
Ryan only threw 14 picks last year. His D came up with 9 sacks in the playoff game to the Bengals and still lost! Dude has always been average.
I said he intercepted more passes, because of the ball production part of the comment. Your post on Tannehill is an odd, random comment for this subject.
I copied the entire comment. Do you just enjoy arguing? Are you that lonely?
You’re the one playing Twister to turn a post about Amani Oruwariye into an excuse to trash Ryan Tannehill.
All you do is sit at your computer and argue w/ people posting about sports. What a pathetic life you live.
My life is pretty good these days. My work comes with some waiting time. I’m stuck on a long work call that doesn’t require much active participation from me. You spend a huge amount of time on a football website trying to take football players down a peg. You deserve a little pushback of your own.
I’ve been watching the game since the 70’s. I make fun of a player, like R Tannehill when he makes an idiotic comment, but that’s about it. I don’t favor any team but will gladly mock bad ones.
Since you’re not need for participation, what does that say about you?
Your earlier argument was ‘Its not fair that non union members can’t vote for union rules’. Has to be about the silliest comment I’ve seen recently. Maybe that’s why you’re not needed on those phone calls.
It says it’s a call with lawyers taking turns monologuing about minutiae. And no, I’m saying you refuted a correct point. There wasn’t much for Walker to agree to. He had to either take or leave a prefab deal.
And the Tannehill thing was an awfully minor thing to shoehorn into a completely unrelated subject.
That’s right about T Walker. The NFLPA had an agreement in place prior to him becoming a union member. Now as a union member, he can vote; not before becoming a member.
As for Ryan’s comment, NFL players have been dissing him, as has the media. In fact, he got so much heat from players that Mike Tomlin stepped in to defend the comment. Its was a terrible public comment.
Most people would react exactly like Tannehill did in that situation. All I did was take over after your high draft pick flopped and took you to multiple playoffs and then you drafted my replacement and expect me to not treat this like a competition? I’ll be honest I just like his honesty because anytime someone says they appreciate the competition they’re lying.
I agree with you, but it was a terrible public look that got way more negative than positive attention. It’s a well known fact that the current players watch the draft to see if their replacement is brought in.
The only bad look was how the media butchered his full quote to make a story out of it. Tannehill was 100% right.
“That’s part of being in a quarterback room, in the same room — we’re competing against each other, we’re watching the same tape, we’re doing the same drills,” Tannehill said. “I don’t think it’s my job to mentor him. But if he learns from me along the way, then that’s a great thing.”
Oruwariye has put in the time and it has shown. I hope he keeps up the hard work and keeps a straight head going into this year. The contract stuff will catch up if you keep playing at the level he did last year.
PFF grade of 59.0 last year. How much is that worth?
We have to lock up Amani this off-season, I loved this pick when we made it, thought 5th round was a steal for Amani. Hopefully we can sign him for a bit of a discount because he is still a year from FA. We still need a number 1 CB I think, hopefully Okudah can can prove me wrong.