Ndamukong Suh took part in afternoon practice Wednesday with his new Lions teammates, and coaches wasted no time in putting the No. 2 overall pick right where he had been during offseason practices — in the starting lineup.

Suh told reporters he expected as much.

“I mean, I was running with the one’s during OTAs,” Suh said. ”I kind of came in here expecting it. I was just at home, just going back over the plays and trying to remember everything from OTA’s and making sure that if I was thrown in with the one’s that I would be prepared.”

The Lions have gone to great lengths in bolstering the defensive line, adding Suh in the draft, trading for DT Corey Williams and finding DE Kyle Vanden Bosch in free agency. The only holdover is Cliff Avril, who is expected to flip from right end to left end.

On paper, at least, that’s a lot of improvement.

“You never really know. But I think talent-wise, we certainly feel a lot better about it,” coach Jim Schwartz said about the revamped line. “ I think you’re seeing signs and until we actually do it on the field and it actually counts and we can see it in a real game, it’s just speculation. I think we have some good signs.”

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