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The Detroit Lions went to work overhauling their defense this offseason, adding some key free agents and top draft picks to shore up their secondary and linebacking corps.
But the Lions could still have some work to do in the trenches, especially in the interior where they struggled in stopping the run. While the Lions have a pair of budding stars at the edge, a trade with the Indianapolis Colts could help bring the size and experience they need in the middle in the form of veteran Grover Stewart.
Lions Could Bolster Major Weakness With Trade
In a preseason preview of the major offseason concern for all 32 NFL teams, The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy noted that the Lions still have some question marks at defensive tackle. While Alim McNeill showed great promise after converting from nose tackle to a 3-technique tackle — and generated even more buzz this offseason by dropping 13% of his body fat — there is some uncertainty in the unit beyond him.
“Levi Onwuzurike was drafted to be a difference-maker but he remains sidelined with a back injury,” Pouncy wrote. “Isaiah Buggs was serviceable, but the team felt he played too many snaps a year ago. And rookie Brodric Martin could be the team’s nose tackle of the future, but he’s still raw.”
Pouncy added that the Lions are confident that their strengths on the edge will help bolster the entire unit, Detroit’s front office could look to make a trade for the veteran Stewart. Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox identified Stewart as a potential trade candidate in a June article, noting that the rebuilding Colts could save $9.6 million in cap space and position themselves to add another skill player around quarterback Anthony Richardson next season.
“Sending Stewart to another team, likely a contender, should bring a fairly strong return,” Knox wrote. “The market for defensive tackles is on the rise—29-year-old Dalvin Tomlinson got a four-year, $57 million deal in free agency—so Stewart’s $9.3 million base salary is reasonable.”
Colts May Lock Down Grover Stewart
The Colts could have other plans for Stewart. Zach Hicks of SI.com suggested that instead of shipping him away for assets that could be used in a rebuild, Stewart could actually become a centerpiece of the defense and the team builds around him.
Hicks suggested that extending Stewart, who is entering the final year of his contract, could be the top summer priority for the Colts.
“A lot of the talk this offseason will be centered around whether the Colts should extend one of (or both of) Michael Pittman Jr and Jonathan Taylor prior to the start of the 2023 season,” he wrote. “While there is merit in having that conversation, it is simply safer for the team to extend a player like Stewart at this moment over those two.”
The Lions could also choose to put their focus on developing Martin, who earned praise from general manager Brad Holmes after the team traded up in the third round to land him.
“He was just a favorite for me and (coach) Dan (Campbell) — not in terms of what Brodric is right now, we were so excited about what Brodric can become,” Holmes said, via the Detroit News. “When you identify a guy at that size, that’s that powerful, is that athletic, and has that kind of rare length that he has — and look, there are a lot of defensive linemen that are big and have length and are powerful — but he plays hard, he plays like how we want to play. He’s relentless, he chases the ball, he’s instinctive, he can find the football. It’s all those things (that) really kept moving Brodric kind of up the charts for us as the process moved along.”
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