Changes are coming for the Detroit Lions defense.
After giving up the second-most points through two weeks and having an extended weekend to diagnose their problems, Lions coach Dan Campbell promised changes were coming.
“We’re going to do a couple of things defensively. We’re going to move some guys around,” Campbell said Monday. “We’re going to give some guys some more opportunities to play here and shake it up a little bit. And because they’ve earned that, we’ve got some guys in here that have earned some play time
that they deserve a chance to do more for us.”
On top of that, the Lions have to make some adjustments in the secondary after losing starting safety Avonte Maddox for the season to a foot injury. They started by signing Jalen Mills to the practice squad and poaching rookie safety Bishop Fitzgerald, but more mixing and matching is certainly on the way.
On this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast, Erik Schlitt and I offer ideas and depth chart shakeups the Lions may consider moving forward.
Our discussion starts at safety, where the Lions have some choices to make. Will the Lions roll with Chuck Clark and Thomas Harper as starters, or will Christian Izien take over one of those roles? Schlitt suggests the Lions may have a three-person rotation at safety moving forward.
But if the Lions pull Izien from the nickel position, how will that impact the cornerback room? Will Roger McCreary become the full-time starter, or will rookie Keith Abney see more opportunities? If it’s McCreary, then the domino effect continues at outside cornerback. Who is CB3? Is this where Ennis Rakestraw or Nick Whiteside get the call-up to the game-day roster? And is Rock Ya-Sin’s starting job in jeopardy?
That conversation kicks off this week’s podcast, but there are plenty of topics we cover this week, including:
- Is it practical to simplify the defense right now?
- Why does the defense keep looking good in training camp, but fail to carry it over to the regular season?
- Are safeties more important than cornerbacks in this defense?
- Is Brad Holmes to blame for early extensions that have backfired because of injury (Kerby Joseph, Alim McNeill)?
- Does Kelvin Sheppard need a senior defensive assistant?
- What’s more likely: Campbell fires Sheppard midseason, the Lions hire a defensive assistant, or Detroit rides out the season and reassesses in 2027?
- Why does Dan Campbell have such a short leash on offensive coordinators, but leeway for Aaron Glenn and Sheppard?
- When, if ever, will the Lions get offensive weapon reserves (Jacob Saylors, Tay Martin, Tom Kennedy) involved in the offense?
You can hear our answers to the questions by searching “Pride of Detroit” on any of your favorite podcasting platforms, or just use the Spotify embed below:
If you’d like the watch the podcast, which has a ton of extra content in between segments that is not included on the audio version, you can catch replays over on our YouTube page and Twitch channel.
