The Sports Xchange

The Detroit Lions on Wednesday agreed to a four-year contract extension with standout linebacker DeAndre Levy.

“He’s a heck of a football player, just a playmaker on our defense vs. the run and the pass,” Lions general manager Martin Mayhew said Tuesday as the sides were working toward an agreement. “The guy’s an impact player, so we definitely want to keep him on our defense. It’s very important to our football team. His leadership is also excellent and professional in every sense of the word, so he has a lot of value to us and he’s one of our own guys, so we want to definitely keep him around.”

Levy, a third-round pick in 2009, has stepped up his play the past two years, becoming one of the league’s top every-down outside linebackers.

In 2013, he tied for second in the NFL with six interceptions while recording 119 tackles. Last season, he tallied a career-high 151 tackles and also had 2.5 sacks and one interception.

The Lions now will turn their attention to re-signing defensive tackle Haloti Ngata, whom they acquired in a trade with the Baltimore Ravens in March.