Getty Brad Holmes speaking during the 2022 NFL combine.
The Detroit Lions have had a solid start to the offseason, and most of that has been due to their work during the free agency period.
While the Lions have dipped into the free agent pool pretty heavily so far, they have done so effectively, especially as it relates to the team’s biggest positions of need on the field this offseason.
Coming into the offseason, the Lions needed major upgrades on defense, specifically the defensive secondary. With the additions there playing out, the position has been renovated in a big way, which is a positive for the Lions.
Pro Football Focus analyst Zoltan Buday looked at naming some of the biggest positives for every team this offseason. The biggest for Detroit, not unexpectedly, was the team adding pieces to boost up their needy secondary.
“The Lions offense was a pleasant surprise in 2022; however, the Detroit defense constantly let down the offense, which resulted in the team barely missing the playoffs. As a result, the offseason focus should be improving the defense, especially the secondary. Consequently, the Lions front office wasted no time, as it signed cornerbacks Cameron Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley while more recently also acquiring safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson on a one-year deal,” Buday wrote within the piece.
While adding Sutton and Moseley was a good start, the fact that the Lions managed to get Gardner-Johnson might only be the cherry on top for the team.
This offseason, the Lions have had a positive string of moves on defense, and that’s reason for the fans to feel good through the first wave of the offseason.
Lions’ Additions Boosted Defensive Backfield
It wasn’t a surprise to see the backfield as a major target of free agency. The Lions struggled last season, and their statistical problems pointed to the need for some big upgrades.
Detroit finished 30th in pass defense, allowing 26 touchdowns and over 245 yards per-game on average. Worse, they allowed a total of 4,179 yards through the air. That points to a group that simply didn’t get much going all season long.
Jeff Okudah, who posted 73 tackles and one interception was the most consistent player of the group, and by the end of the season, he was struggling to find consistency as well. The Lions have solid pieces like Jerry Jacobs, but not nearly enough depth at the position, which proved itself to be the case most of the year.
Free agent Amani Oruwariye is now on the outs having signed with the New York Giants after a very tough season in 2022, and Mike Hughes departed, signing with the Atlanta Falcons. Already, the Lions have won by getting the players they have into the room and subtracting out some of the bigger problems.
To solve those needs, the Lions added Sutton to the mix at cornerback, in addition to Moseley. Earlier this week, they signed Gardner-Johnson as well. All three of those players will be immediate upgrades.
Already, it looks as if the team has done well to figure out how to solve the situaiton in a big way, which the experts see as a big positive at this point in time for the franchise.
Lions Earning High Free Agency Grade
The Lions have done a nice job to check off their needs, which should not only lead fans to feel positive about their future, but the team to earn a respectable grade as well.
At this point, it isn’t a stretch to say the Lions have earned at least an A- for their work thus far in free agency. The reasoning isn’t just the positions they have targeted or the players they have added, but the entire approach.
In past years, the Lions have leaned on bringing back internal free agents first. That’s been an approach that has paid off for them, and could be expected to do so again. All of Alex Anzalone, Isaiah Buggs and John Cominsky represented must-retain free agents in Detroit. Each one of them returned.
With regard to the players coming in from the outside, Sutton seems like a big score for the team’s defensive backfield, and a guy primed to play lots of different roles for the Lions this season. Moseley seems like a quality gamble on a one-year deal, and Montgomery and Glasgow will help Detroit’s offense remain very tough.
Adding Gardner-Johnson was the cherry on top of the perfection for the Lions, who can either bide their time until the draft or continue to try and hunt big moves relative to their cap space left.