James Houston has had a rough 12 months, but he could be getting healthy at just the right time.

Houston broke his ankle last September and played sparingly in his second NFL season, then missed a large chunk of this year's training camp with a bone bruise in his knee.

But the third-year pass rusher returned to the lineup for the Detroit Lions' final preseason game Saturday and had one sack and three tackles in the team's 24-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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"Houston had a couple (nice) rushes," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "He’s been out. It was good to see him there."

The Lions have a logjam of capable edge rushers fighting for backup spots behind starters Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport, and Campbell acknowledged Saturday he and Lions general manager Brad Holmes have their hands full trying to decide who to keep and who to let go at that position before Tuesday's 4 p.m. roster deadline.

Undrafted rookie Isaac Ukwu had his third sack in as many preseason games Saturday, and Mitchell Agude and Mathieu Betts are among others in the mix for probably one or two jobs.

Houston, a sixth-round pick in 2022, was one of the Lions' best pass rushers as a rookie, when he had eight sacks in seven games as a designated pass rusher after starting the season on practice squad.

The Lions tried to convert Houston to outside linebacker last year, but mostly pulled away from that experiment this summer because of Houston's deficiencies as a run defender and in pass coverage.

Still, Houston offers a tantalizing skill set as a pass rusher — he beat backup Steelers lineman Spencer Anderson with a quick inside dip for his sack Saturday — and Campbell said his history of production makes him a difficult roster evaluation.

"We have to take the body of work that is taking place in practice against our very good tackles," Campbell said. "We got two of the best tackles in the league that he has to go against. You take those and then you take a little bit of what you saw today, ‘OK, well what does the health look like? Can he still move?'

"But I think, look, that’s going to be a hard decision for Brad and myself, it is, one way or another. That’s kind of what you are asking, ‘Is it enough?’ It’s hard to say that right now. This will be a lot of the things that we hash out between the two of us, the coaching staff, all of it. Like, we got to make sure we’re seeing it clearly."

Injury report

Defensive tackle Broderic Martin left Saturday's game late in the third quarter with a right leg injury, though Campbell said he does not think the injury is serious.

"Looks like a little hyperextension there," Campbell said. "I don’t think it’s anything long-term, but enough to be sore for a little bit here.”

Campbell also confirmed that right tackle Penei Sewell (foot) and running back Craig Reynolds (leg) "will be good" after leaving practice with minor injuries Wednesday. Campbell did, however, raise an alarm that safety Ifeatu Melifonwu could miss time.

Melifonwu has been receiving treatment for an Achilles injury. He played in last week's preseason win over the Kansas City Chiefs, but did not practice this week or play Saturday.

"He’s been out for a little while," Campbell said. "Nothing that we feel like is long-term yet, it’s continuing to take a little while. I’m not too sure on that one. I don’t know when we’ll have him back or if he’ll be back, what that timeline is. But feel really good about Sewell and Craig both.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on X and Instagram at @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: James Houston 'a hard decision' when it comes to Detroit Lions cuts