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The Detroit Lions are facing a depth crisis on the back end of their defense already, and could turn to a veteran free agent in order to fill the void.
According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Lions are looking at Prince Amukamara on the free agency market. They are joined by the Buffalo Bills, who could also have interest in the 31 year old corner.
Amukamara has had quite the career, spanning the New York Giants, Jacksonville Jaguars, Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders. He’s arguably the biggest name cornerback still left on the market, so it’s possible a team with a depth problem such as Detroit could target him.
Prince Amukamara Stats
After being the No. 19 pick in the 2011 NFL Draft, Amukamara played for the Giants, where he helped them to a Super Bowl win in 2012. After 5 years, Amukamara went to the Jaguars for a year before then signing with the Bears, where he stuck for 3 seasons. This year, Amukamara played with the Raiders, but was release there late during training camp.
In his career, Amukamara has put up 477 tackles, 10 interceptions and 80 pass deflections. He’d be a veteran body the Lions could insert into the mix to help them account for some major injuries early on.
Lions Get Good Desmond Trufant Injury News
According to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network, Desmond Trufant was able to avoid a serious injury to his hamstring and could play this week against the Green Bay Packers in Week 2.
That’s great news for Detroit, who lost Justin Coleman to the IR and still does not know what they will be getting from Jeff Okudah, who missed Week 1 with his own hamstring injury.
Obviously, these are desperate times in the Detroit backfield. The Lions could turn to a veteran cornerback in the days ahead in order to fill the gap left by Coleman coming up. Still, if Trufant could remain healthy and play in the near future, it could be a big win for the team’s beat up defense.
Desmond Trufant’s Absence Hurt Detroit
Not only were the Lions down rookie cornerback Jeff Okudah to a hamstring injury, they had lost Justin Coleman in the first half. Then, during the late stages of the game, they lost veteran cornerback Desmond Trufant to the same ailment as Okudah. It was only after Trufant exited that Mitch Trubisky turned up the heat against a Lions secondary full of mostly backups, and another unfortunate turn which set about a historic collapse.
Without Trufant, Trubisky was able to confidently fire 3 touchdown passes as well as pile up the yards against the Lions. Before he exited, Trubisky looked more like the average quarterback who barely held onto his job this offseason.
Certainly, this stat isn’t to excuse the Detroit offense and their lack of closing, but it could explain why the Lions’ defense looked so scattered late. Amani Oruwariye was the team’s only home grown talent on the field in the moment, and they were relying on veterans Tony McRae and Darryl Roberts likely more than they ever expected to be in Week 1.
Good depth is important, but it’s likely not even the Lions could have planned for the mass exodus they experienced Week 1 in their secondary. The health of all these players will be something to watch this week in what could be another stiff challenge for Detroit’s defense.
A player like Amukamara could make a difference in terms of experience.
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