Even the most ardent Detroit Lions supporters were skeptical.
Heading into training camp, the secondary was one big question mark . Star safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph remained sidelined while recovering
from major injuries. One of the two outside cornerback spots had suddenly come open after 2024 first-round pick Terrion Arnold was released in the days following his shocking arrest this past June. There was also a vacancy at the nickel position, with no obvious candidate to fill the top role.
The outlook appeared bleak from the outside.
While D.J. Reed didn’t share the same perspective, he could see why those beyond the walls of the team’s Allen Park headquarters held such a pessimistic view of the team’s defensive backfield.
“I can understand how fans feel,” the Lions’ No. 1 cornerback told the Free Press on Wednesday, Aug. 26.
But Reed didn’t internalize those doubts. He, and the organization he represented, simply ignored them.
The Lions instead forged ahead, making their best effort to stabilize a sector that entered this summer on shaky ground. By early August, 80% of the lineup had started to crystallize and was chock full of players, coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said, “who’ve done it before.” Chuck Clark and Avonte Maddox were running with the first team as the stand-ins for Joseph and Branch. Rock Ya-Sin had all but locked down Arnold’s old job opposite Reed. The only spot that remained unsettled was nickel, where veterans Christian Izien and Roger McCreary were thrust into a competition with rookie Keith Abney II. That battle, to this point, is still ongoing – in part, because Izien recently suffered an unspecified injury.
“I mean, our eyes were open for everything, corner and safety,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said.
But Campbell and his staff determined rather quickly that Clark, Maddox and Ya-Sin were the best options at their respective positions, which extended the runway for this rebuilt unit to develop continuity heading into the season.
“Some of us haven’t ever played together,” said the 31-year-old Clark, who signed with Detroit in March. “I think us being out here jelling and meshing is a big thing. Knowing who can do what and how, and how we communicate on the field [is beneficial].”
During a trial run in the first half of a preseason victory over the Washington Commanders on Aug. 22, the secondary stood strong, forcing multiple negative plays. Maddox surged into the backfield to blow up a screen, dropping Craig Reynolds 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Later, Reed created a loss of the same scale when he snuffed out a toss sweep to the left side and buried Robert Henry Jr. in the backfield. The tackling was on point. So was the coverage. The longest completion surrendered before halftime went for 13 yards. Reed and Ya-Sin, in particular, were stingy, allowing just two catches while playing a combined total of 37 snaps. Clark was solid, too. He had the Lions’ lone pass breakup.
While it's worth noting that Washington's offense primarily consisted of backups after the first possession, the performance was encouraging nonetheless.
“Right now, I feel like we’re in a great spot,” Reed said. “As far as the communication, as far as taking the information that our coaches gives us from the classroom to the field, I feel like every day we’re improving upon that. I feel like there are less [missed assignments] and less errors that are happening now. We have a good mesh and a good understanding of who we’re working with now. So, that’s pretty reassuring going into the season.”
As it stands here in late August, the back end of the Lions defense does appear to be in a better place than it was when Branch ruptured his right Achilles tendon last December. By that point, Detroit was scrambling to patch together its ailing secondary. Arnold was already on injured reserve. Joseph was out indefinitely, sidelined with a degenerative knee condition that left his future in doubt. The replacement parts the Lions cobbled together didn’t work that well, and the results were ugly. In consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Rams and Pittsburgh Steelers, Detroit allowed 611 passing yards – the second-highest total in the NFL during that span.
Eight months later, the same big pieces are missing. Arnold is no longer on the roster. Branch and Joseph, meanwhile, have been stashed on the physically unable to perform list and it’s uncertain when they will be cleared to play.
So, what gives the Lions reason to believe the secondary will be appreciably better than it was at the end of 2025?
Look no further than Maddox, Reed and Ya-Sin. Each of them is entering his second year with the Lions and has a firmer grasp of Sheppard’s system.
“When you’ve got a bunch of guys out there that know what they’re doing, the sky is the limit,” linebacker Derrick Barnes told the Free Press.
At the very least, the ceiling seems slightly higher, the outlook somewhat brighter and the picture a bit less muddled.
That's how it appears from Maddox's vantage point. When asked to assess the state of the secondary on the eve of the last training camp practice, he smiled.
“I feel pretty good,” he said.
There was not a hint of doubt in his voice.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How the Detroit Lions feel about the secondary with season approaching
