Lions swap edge rushers, activating James Houston and releasing Julian Okwara

Allen Park — Houston, we have lift-off.

The Detroit Lions activated edge rusher James Houston on Thursday afternoon, days ahead of the team's divisional playoff against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon. The second-year defender has been out since Week 2 of the regular season, when he suffered a broken ankle covering a kickoff.

“Every day it feels much better. This is not a typical injury you want to really just come right back on,” Houston told The Detroit News on Wednesday. “You really want to have more time off, but every day it feels better.”

A sixth-round pick out of Jackson State a year ago, Houston was a revelation as a midseason callup from the practice squad. Making his debut on Thanksgiving, he would go on to rack up eight sacks in seven games, second on the team to only the No. 2 overall pick from that draft class, Aidan Hutchinson.

With Romeo Okwara and Charles Harris back at full strength, Houston restarted training camp closer to the bottom of Detroit's edge-rushing depth chart, but still managed to earn 21 snaps in the season opener, prior to the Week 2 injury.

To clear room on the roster, the Lions released Julian Okwara. The former third-round pick out of Notre Dame was on the final year of his rookie contract and had been a frequent healthy scratch this season, including last week's Wild Card victory over the Rams.

In 38 career games with the Lions, Okwara tallied nine sacks.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

@Justin_Rogers

Divisional round

Buccaneers at Lions

▶ Kickoff: 3 p.m., Sunday, Ford Field

▶ TV/radio: NBC/97.1

▶ Line: Lions by 6 1/2

▶ Records: Tampa Bay (10-8), Detroit (13-5)