Here's why Isaiah Buggs has been benched by the Lions

This came after he had missed most the teams voluntary workouts over the offseason when pretty much all of the team showed up. The team did not take that very well and Buggs knew that. 

Buggs has been on the field for the Lions for six games this year. There's this idea that generates from the Lions fan base that the teams pass rush is so much better with Buggs in the game. I think that's what leads to the biggest misunderstanding here when it comes to his benching. Because that's not true. Let's take a look. 

Buggs made his season debut against the Falcons. He played on 18 snaps in that game. Nine of which were pass rushing snaps. The Lions did get seven sacks in that game. But Buggs was only on the field for one of them. 

He played eight pass rush snaps against the Packers the following week. The Lions got five sacks in that game and he got one of them. He was on the field for just one other one. 

He played a season high 21 pass rush snaps against the Panthers the following week. The Lions got one sack in that game and he was not on the field for it. 

He then played 10 pass rush snaps against the Bucs, 17 against the Ravens and 18 against the Chargers. The Lions did not record a sack in any of those games except for Julian Okwara's sack on Baker Mayfield in Tampa Bay. Buggs was not on the field for that. 

Buggs has played a total of 83 pass rush snaps this season and he has only generated four hurries and one pressure in that time. The Lions have only been able to register three of their 25 sacks with him on the field. 

There's a reason why Buggs is not on the field anymore. It's because on top of the offseason issues, he's just not playing well at all. I know fans are upset and they want to think that there is some sort of conspiracy here or that the coaching staff is bad because they're not playing him. That's just not what's happening here. This guy is having a bad year. He had a bad mini camp, he had a bad training camp and it was apparent that Benito Jones was passing him up in reps and then he's had a bad season. That's why he's a healthy scratch and that's why the team has been playing Quinton Bohanna in the last three games. That's it. 

As far as the future, Buggs did sign a two year extension this offseason. The Lions have an out in that deal after this year. It will cost them a half a million dollars in dead cap to part ways with him after the year. It certainly seems like that is the way this is going.