Tag: Detroit Lions Secondary

Ranking the Lions offseason needs for 2024

Here’s an early look at the Lions’ biggest needs in free agency and the 2024 NFL draft.

It’s officially the offseason for the Detroit Lions after the disspiriting loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship game. The offseason focus is on how to take the next step to potentially host that NFC title game after the 2024 season and win it, too.

The Lions will look different in 2024. All teams suffer some roster turnover, and the Lions are no different. Detroit has 19 unrestricted free agents who are coming off the roster, as well as some who are under contract but might not make the cut into the next year, for either performance or salary purposes.

What do the Lions need to make that next step? Here’s an early look at the biggest needs in free agency and the 2024 NFL draft.

 

Studs and Duds for the Lions division-winning victory over the Vikings

The Detroit Lions have clinched the NFC North with a win over the Minnesota Vikings and here this week’s Lions Studs and Duds.

Today marks a historic moment as the Detroit Lions secure their first division title in three decades, triumphing over the Minnesota Vikings with a hard-fought 30-24 victory. Despite the hurdles faced, this win epitomizes the resilient spirit of the Lions.

While the victory may not be characterized as flawless, with several self-inflicted mistakes threatening the outcome, the Lions demonstrated remarkable composure and determination to secure the division. The defense faced formidable challenges from key Vikings players, yet unexpected contributors stepped up when needed, while the offense relied on its stars to seize crucial moments and propel them to victory.

In light of this division-clinching triumph over the Vikings, let’s take a closer look at the Studs and Duds for the Lions this week.

Studs and Duds for the Lions victory over the Chiefs

Here are this weeks Detroit Lions Studs and Duds for their Week 1 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Detroit Lions have been telling everyone they’re ready to win and compete, but most people wrote them off, saying they haven’t proved anything. However, they proved the doubters wrong with a massive 21-20 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Lions demonstrated their grit and no-quit attitude, showing the world they’re ready to walk with the big boys. Although their game wasn’t the cleanest, they didn’t let their mistakes affect the outcome. The team received contributions from all players, and it showed on the big stage. Unfortunately, some players weren’t fully prepared when it mattered most.

Here are this week’s Lions Studs and Duds for their win over the Kansas City Chiefs.

Detroit Lions Training Camp Battles: Cornerbacks

Breaking down the Detroit Lions depth chart at cornerback to start training camp in 2023

One of the most improved units for the Detroit Lions this off-season has been in their secondary. Much of that is for their success in signing three defensive backs in free agency while drafting another in the 2023 NFL Draft.

When you look at their first big signing in free agency for Detroit, it was a three-year contract that landed them cornerback Cameron Sutton. During his first six seasons in the NFL, Sutton played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He found plenty of success and is coming off the best year of his career in 2022 with 43 tackles, 15 pass deflections and three interceptions. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he ended up as the team’s top cornerback for the next few seasons.

While looking into upgrading the secondary, the Lions made a surprising move by trading away former first-round pick, Jeff Okudah. While it was somewhat of a head scratching move at the time, it makes sense with Okudah feeling like damaged goods from being picked by a previous regime and injuries.

So the alternative move for the Lions was to get some additional draft capital and look back into free agency after adding Sutton. This additional move was by signing veteran cornerback Emmanuel Moseley. Last season, Moseley played in five games and had five pass breakups and an interception. He had torn his ACL and was expected to have a limited market in free agency.

That could be why Moseley signed a one-year contract with Detroit. He’ll need to prove that he’s healthy and hasn’t lost a step. The hope for the Lions is that Moseley returns to form from a few seasons ago. Prior to last year, he played in 39 games with 28 starts. This led to 3 interceptions and 28 pass deflections.

It would make sense if fans are eager to pencil Moseley into the starting cornerback role opposite of Sutton. He’s the obvious choice but the key will be if he’s healthy or not. If he’s not, the Lions could very well turn to a familiar face in Jerry Jacobs.

For Jacobs, he missed the beginning of last season from a torn ACL in 2021. However, once he got activated, he found success on the field and made some key pass breakups in the second half of the season. Jacobs finished 2022 with an interception and 8 pass deflections while playing in 12 games.

It’s worth noting that Jacobs will be a restricted free agent (RFA) this off-season. Him being on the field often and having success should be a driving force for him to earn an extension in Detroit.

Lastly, the Lions will have plenty of options and versatility at the nickle corner spot of their defense. The surprise move this off-season was by signing C.J. Gardner-Johnson to a one-year deal. Nobody saw that move coming but it’s a move that could really get the Lions secondary to the next level.

Over his four year career with the Saints and Eagles, Gardner-Johnson has 11 interceptions and 36 pass deflections while tallying 228 total tackles. Last season for the Eagles, he had a career year with 6 interceptions and 8 pass deflections and 67 tackles. With Gardner-Johnson, he’s versatile enough to play down in the box, cover the slot or even be a single high safety if the Lions run a Cover 1 defense.

If Gardner-Johnson isn’t covering the slot, I’d expect the Lions to turn to Brian Branch or Will Harris. As we know, Harris has spent his entire career in Detroit and in fact, played a career-high of 68% of snaps in the slot last season (per PFF). He had 10 starts and recorded his first career interception.

I’d expect Harris to see somewhat of a dip in production and with his snap count this upcoming season. Much of that could be due to the Lions selecting Alabama defensive back Brian Branch in the 2nd Round of the 2023 NFL Draft.

With Branch, he’s dynamite in a small package. He won’t drop any jaws with his straight line speed (4.58 time in the 40-yard dash) but he’s physical, versatile and his been praised for his football IQ. I’d expect for Branch to shadow Gardner-Johnson during training camp but most importantly, I’d keep tabs on how many times he’s aligned in the slot and taking snaps as the nickle corner of the Lions defense.

Ultimately, this Lions secondary has gotten tremendously better. It’s probably the group I’m most anxious to see during training camp and the preseason. If all goes right, here’s how I predict the Lions secondary for the 2023 season:

  • CB1: Cameron Sutton
  • CB2: Jerry Jacobs until Emmanuel Moseley is healthy
  • Nickle: Brian Branch with a rotation of C.J. Gardner Johnson and Will Harris
  • FS: Kerby Joseph
  • SS: C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Tracy Walker

I’d expect the Lions to have multiple packages for their secondary with a combination of players at a variety of spots. I’d be somewhat surprised if Kerby Joseph wasn’t the team’s starting free safety with how well he played as a rookie and just due to his ball skills.

As I put in the diagram above, I’d expect times that we see more of a DIME defense from the Lions. It would present the Lions the option to have Joseph, Walker, Gardner-Johnson and Branch on the field at the same time. Much of that will depend on the success that we see from Sutton, Moseley and Jacobs on the perimeter of the defense.

Madden NFL 24 ratings for the Detroit Lions secondary

Quite a few changes in the Lions secondary and the Madden ’24 ratings seem to like the changes

The secondary for the Detroit Lions is going to look much different than it did a year ago. Players such as Jeff Okudah, Amani Oruwariye and DeShon Elliot are now gone and have been replaced with players such as Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

It’s been no secret that the Lions secondary has been somewhat of a liability for a while now. However, they look to be better on paper now with players such as Sutton and Moseley on the roster.

Last season, Sutton had three interceptions and 15 pass deflections. It was a career year for the six-year veteran. He’ll transition his career to the Lions as one of their top cornerbacks. In Madden ’24, he earned a rating of 77 overall. That’s the same rating that was given to Emmanuel Moseley. For Moseley, he had 5 pass deflections and an interception before tearing his ACL last season. If healthy, both players should be the top options for the perimeter of the Lions’ defense.

Above is the rest of the cornerback rankings for Detroit. Surprisingly, Will Harris is rated much higher than Jerry Jacobs. For Harris, he did have the best year of his career in 2022 while earning 68% of his defensive snaps at nickel. He earned 10 starts on the season and his PFF grade of 63.7 was 66th best out of 235 corners in the NFL.

As for Jacobs, he logged 8 pass deflections and an interception last season. While his 55.8 overall grade from PFF is lower than Harris’, it’s worth noting that Jacobs tore his ACL in week 14 of the 2021 season. He spent the start of the 2022 season on the reserve/PUP list. There’s potential for Jacobs to take snaps from Harris this season, if healthy.

The fastest cornerback on the roster is a tie between Khalil Dorsey and Jarren Williams. Both players are listed with 93 speed for the video game. That could be noteworthy when you’re running a kick-off or punt and need a speedster to get down and make a tackle.

Speaking of tackling, the hardest hitter in the Lions secondary is rookie defensive back Brian Branch. He earned an 86 rating for hit power. As for the rest of the safeties, the top-rated safety is C.J. Gardner-Johnson with an 84 overall rating.

The next closest to Gardner-Johnson are free safeties Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker. It shouldn’t be surprising to see Joseph have such a rise up the rankings after posting 82 tackles, 8 pass breakups and four interceptions as a rookie.

For Walker, there’s potential for him to emerge as a starter in the video game and on the field in real life. He’s coming back from a torn Achilles and much of what we’ve seen through social media is that he looks to be 100% healthy or close to it.

[lawrence-related id=93406]

As for the rest of the safeties, it’s somewhat surprising to see Brian Branch listed as one. Especially since it seemed like the Lions drafted him to play cornerback. On my draft board for the 2023 NFL Draft, I had Branch listed as my top safety. With a 75 overall rating, Branch is the highest-rated rookie safety in Madden ’24.

Each day that passes, EA Sports releases a new set of rankings for each position group. With these rankings of the Lions secondary, there’s plenty to feel good about with how deep the Lions are at with the safety position. Meanwhile, they’ve got more consistency at cornerback this year than they have in the past. It’ll be fun to see how this group gels in Madden ’24 and for the upcoming season.