Lions' Ifeatu Melifonwu has taken quickly to starting role, named NFC Player of the Week

It took nearly three months for Ifeatu Melifonwu to crack the starting lineup at safety, and three starts for him to emerge as one of the top playmakers on the Detroit Lions defense.

Melifonwu was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week on Wednesday after his five-tackle, two-sack performance in the Lions' NFC North-clinching win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Melifonwu also had two pass breakups in the game, including the game-sealing interception on a Nick Mullens pass to Justin Jefferson with less than a minute to play.

"I think Iffy understands exactly what he’s doing now," Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn said. "And I’m not saying he didn’t before, but, man, just he’s so comfortable in that position of being a safety. That’s what I mean when I say now, cause that transition is not easy for everybody cause now you go from a single-focus guy to, man, I’ve got to see the field, and that’s what he’s done a really good job of."

Melifonwu was a third-round pick out of Syracuse in 2021, and started his NFL career at cornerback before moving to safety last summer. He played sparingly his first two seasons because of injuries and contributed primarily on special teams in the first half of this year.

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Melifonwu replaced Tracy Walker in the starting lineup in early December after he recovered from a broken hand suffered in a pass rush drill in practice, and has 18 tackles, three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble in his three starts.

He is the only defensive player in the NFL since at least 1999 with four pass breakups, three sacks and an interception in a two-game span.

"If you watch this player in practice when we go through some of our blitz looks and things like that, man, he does a hell of a job blitzing and you see why he has the sack production he’s had over the last couple of weeks," Glenn said. "Hopefully he can continue that trend and hopefully for us as a defense we continue to trend of getting takeaways, cause you see them come in bunches now and I think they’ve been like keys to how we’ve operated throughout the games as far as getting these victories."

Melifonwu's emergence has left the Lions with a difficult decision pending at safety.

Both he and Kerby Joseph (a team-high four interceptions) have played well in recent weeks. C.J. Gardner-Johnson could return for Saturday's game at Dallas from the torn pectoral muscle he suffered in a Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, and rookie Brian Branch is playing well at slot cornerback.

Glenn reiterated Wednesday the best players will play, and he will tailor packages to each player's skill set.

Melifonwu said Sunday he feels like he's only scratching the surface of his potential.

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"It’s a new position for me so I still like find myself wanting to go out there and get better," he told the Free Press. "You don’t really hear guys say like I want to go out there and get better. I literally want to go out there and get better, cause I haven’t played this position so it’s fun to me going out there, learning, getting more comfortable and just like, even when I mess up in the film room, I’m not even mad. Obviously you don’t want to mess up, but I’m excited to learn and keep growing at that position."

Melifonwu is the fourth different Lion to win a player of the week award this season. Aidan Hutchinson was Defensive Player of the Week after a Week 3 win over the Atlanta Falcons, Jared Goff was Offensive Player of the Week after a Week 6 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin was Special Teams Player of the Week after a Dec. 3 win over the New Orleans Saints.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Ifeatu Melifonwu named NFC Defensive Player of the Week