As we learned from last year, the Detroit Lions’ depth on defense could be critical to their success. So as the Lions trim down their roster from 91 to 53 this week, some crucial decisions will be made on both sides of the ball. Earlier on Monday, we already offered our predictions for the offensive players on the roster bubble. Now it’s time to make our best guesses on defense. Before we get into our final predictions, take a look back at our predictions six weeks ago, before training camp began.
Things look a bit different now.
Edge defender:
- Assumed in: Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport
- Removed from Bubble Watch: Josh Paschal — likely headed to NFI/reserve
Voting:
- Al-Quadin Muhammad: 11 “IN” votes (no change)
- Nate Lynn: 11 votes (up 1)
- Ahmed Hassanein: 0 votes (down 2)
- Mitchell Agude: 0 votes (no change)
- Isaac Ukwu: 0 votes (no change)
Interestingly, the news that Josh Paschal—who had 10 “IN” votes last week—is likely staying on the Non-Football Injury list to start the season didn’t change the outlook at defensive end much. Instead, most of those votes went to defensive tackle. More on that in the next section.
Instead, the only minor tweak to this section is that upon learning that rookie Ahmed Hassanein’s injury will sideline him for “a while,” our staff is clearly projecting him to land on the short-term IR. That leaves a roster spot for Nate Lynn, who our staff believes decisively won the EDGE4 job.
Defensive tackle:
- Assumed in: DJ Reader, Tyleik Williams, Roy Lopez
- Assumed out: Alim McNeill (PUP), Levi Onwuzurike (PUP/reserve)
Voting:
- Pat O’Connor: 11 votes (no change)
- Mekhi Wingo: 11 votes (up 10)
- Keith Cooper Jr.: 6 votes (down 3)
- Chris Smith: 0 votes (no change)
- Brodric Martin: 0 votes
Mekhi Wingo’s somewhat surprising return from the Physically Unable to Perform list was the biggest shift on the defensive line that basically counteracted the Paschal news. It also took some votes away from undrafted rookie Keith Cooper Jr., who is now basically a 50/50 split to make the roster per our staff. Some of the hype on him has cooled down due to mediocre performances in the preseason game, but it’s still hard to ignore how high he was repping during training camp practices.
Linebacker
- Assumed in: Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Grant Stuard
- Assumed out: Malcolm Rodriguez (PUP)
- Trevor Nowaske: 11 votes (no change)
- Zach Cunningham: 11 (no change)
- Ezekiel Turner: 0 votes (no change)
- Anthony Pittman: 0 votes (no change)
The linebacker room remains unchanged again. But it’s interesting to see just how far Zach Cunningham has come. He started Bubble Watch with just two votes in his favor. Now, it would be shocking if he didn’t make the team.
Cornerbacks:
- Assumed in: Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, Amik Robertson, Rock Ya-Sin
Voting:
- Khalil Dorsey: 11 votes (no change)
- Erick Hallett: 9 votes (up 3)
- Nick Whiteside: 1 votes (down 4)
- Tyson Russell: 0 votes
With Dorsey officially activated from PUP, he’s essentially a lock to make the roster. The question is how many defensive backs the Lions will carry, particularly with guys like Rock Ya-Sin, Avonte Maddox, and Brian Branch capable of moving pretty much anywhere in the secondary. It feels like the Lions have eight locks (including Dorsey), leaving just one or two spots likely left.
Hallett currently leads all bubble defensive backs with nine votes, likely due to his versatility. He’s still repping at every position in the secondary, and that shouldn’t be overlooked. After a dreadful preseason finale, Nick Whiteside has dropped to just a single vote.
Safeties:
- Assumed in: Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, Avonte Maddox
Voting:
- Ian Kennelly: 9 votes (up 4)
- Loren Strickland: 2 votes (up 1)
- Morice Norris: 0 votes (no change)
In favor of keeping an extra cornerback like Whiteside, both of the top safety reserves got a small bump in votes this week. Kennelly continues to get a ton of special teams looks, and often with the starters. Meanwhile, Strickland was one of the few positive standouts in the final preseason game and even got some hype from coach Dan Campbell.
“He’s a ball-hawk. He finds the ball, and he did that again, man – two big plays there in the red zone were good to see,” Campbell said.
Between Hallett, Kennelly, and Strickland, the Lions’ secondary depth is one of the toughest positions to predict.
