Lions Top 10 Injury News of 2025 Full Recap + Bonus #11 Onwuzurike & Paschal
The Levi Onwuzurike & Josh Paschal injury curiosities and parallels
The Detroit Lions Top 10 Injury News of the 2025 Season has been fully revealed, which caps off the fourth season I’ve been doing this series.
In the coming days, I’ll release the recap of the Top 10 Injury News from the 2024, 2023, and 2022 seasons - with current updates.
This year, there were so many intriguing and captivating injury stories that I am obligated to tack on a #11 - the mysteries, curiosities, and parallels of Levi Onwuzurike & Josh Paschal.
First, here’s the full Top 10 Lions Injury News of 2025 list:
#11 Levi Onwuzurike ACL & Josh Paschal Back
The duo of Levi Onwuzurike and Josh Paschal were both being counted on to bolster the defensive line in 2025. However, both their seasons were shuttered with eerily similar parallels:
Both had surprise offseason surgeries in 2025.
Both had a lot of mystery and curiosity surrounding their injuries.
Onwuzurike had an ACL injury that started during the 2024 season, but didn’t get surgery until later in the offseason… after signing a free agent contract.
Paschal had back surgery and was placed on NFI (non-football injury). The NFI designation raised questions that were never answered.
Both missed every game of the 2025 season. Paschal came off the NFI list and returned to practice in November which raised hope, before being unceremoniously shut down.
Both unexpectedly had their expiring contracts toll for another year, meaning the Lions retained their rights for 2026.
Both were former Lions’ 2nd-round picks - Onwuzurike in 2021, Paschal in 2022.
The main difference right now is that Onwuzurike is still on the team with a chance to make the roster, while Paschal has already been released.
For more in-depth analysis of the timeline, injuries, and curiosities of Onwuzurike and Paschal, visit my story below…
Levi Onwuzurike & Josh Paschal: Lions contract tolling and injury analysis
News recently dropped that Lions soon-to-be free agents Levi Onwuzurike and Josh Paschal surprisingly are still under contract for the 2026 season due to obscure tolling rules.