3 Teams That Could Trade for Julian Okwara

Is Julian Okwara on his way out of Detroit?

Julian Okwara presents the Detroit Lions with an interesting dilemma. 

The front office and coaching staff clearly see the potential in the 25-year-old. 

Unfortunately, Detroit's former third-round pick has not demonstrated the level of consistency that keeps his name off the roster bubble or out of trade rumors. 

With Detroit having added depth along the defensive line and in the linebackers room, the team could look to gain additional draft capital by putting Okwara on the trade block. 

"I mean, we’ll see the tape, but I know that he’s another guy that really flashed today," Dan Campbell said, after Detroit's preseason win over New York. "He did a lot of things, you could feel his speed off the edge, he was able to pressure the quarterback. I felt like he was hustling out there, and set an edge a couple of times in the run game. But, we’ll see certainly that he showed up.”

Here are three teams that could make Detroit's front office an offer for the developing defensive lineman. 

New York Giants

Kayvon Thibodeaux and Azeez Ojulari will be the cornerstones of the Giants' defense for years to come. 

After Okwara had a solid preseason performance against the NFC East contender, general manager Joe Schoen could pick up the phone to make Lions general manager Brad Holmes an offer to add a depth piece to the roster. 

San Fransisco 49ers

Samson Ebukam departed for the Indianapolis Colts in the offseason. 

While the defensive line has been bolstered this offseason, the 49ers are in win-now mode and could look to add defensive talent before the start of the season. 

While the 49ers lost some pieces along the defensive line, adding a developing player could provide the team added comfort in their pursuit of winning the Lombardi Trophy. 

Additional reading: What We Learned About Lions After Preseason Loss

"I believe in everyone we have in the room," Arik Armstead said, via the 49ers team website. "We have starters on the whole defensive line, so we're going to be rotating in and sending in guys at a high clip. Our expectations for ourselves are to be the best, the organization has obviously invested upfront and have been doing that for years. We always put it on ourselves, we know we're going to have to play at a high level to get to the place we wanna get. ... So we're excited for the challenge and I definitely think we have the guys to go out there and get it done."

Carolina Panthers

Yetur Gross-Matos, a former second-rounder, has not put up the pass-rush statistics many would have expected early in his NFL career. 

While Amare’ Barno and Marquis Haynes are considered solid situational players, the Panthers likely understand they are not every-down players.

Carolina will get a solid look at Okwara this week and could continue their recent trend of adding players from the Lions' roster.