The Detroit Lions made great strides to shore up their defense this offseason, but still face some question marks at defensive line.
The Lions have a pair of budding stars on the edge in Aidan Hutchinson and James Houston but lack depth in the middle of their defensive line. One insider believes they could address that by landing veteran defensive tackle Tim Settle in a trade with the cap-crunched Buffalo Bills. Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine published a list of suggested trades for all 32 teams, and believes the Bills and Lions could find mutual benefit from a trade.
Bills Find Cap Space, Lions Fill Hole
Ballentine noted that the Bills could benefit from adding a player “who can help push them over the edge,” but have little room to do so as they currently have just $4.9 million in cap space. He suggested that they could clear $2.6 million in cap space by trading away veteran defensive tackle Tim Settle, who was near the end of the rotation last season.
“Settle didn’t make much of an impact last season,” Ballentine wrote. “He played just 38 percent of the snaps, and the Bills have plenty of options with Poona Ford and Jordan Phillips joining Ed Oliver and DaQuan Jones this offseason.”
Ballentine wrote that Settle could be a good fit in Detroit, as the Lions could use a steady player alongside Alim McNeill. The Lions were among the league’s worst defenses against the run last season, allowing opponents to rush for a total of 2,491 yards and 22 total rushing touchdowns.
Defensive Line a Weakness for Lions
The Lions have some reason for optimism at defensive line, especially in McNeill who showed promise after converting from nose tackle to a 3-technique tackle last season. McNeill earned more buzz this offseason by dropping 13% of his body fat as he prepares for a position that calls for more speed and agility.
Coach Campbell on @AlimMcneill‘s offseason transformation.
The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy noted that despite the high hopes for McNeill, the Lions still have question marks at defensive tackle.
“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.”
The Lions do appear to have high hopes for 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.
Holmes went on to say that Martin has a unique skill set and a strong work ethic, which could bode well for his place on the team in the coming season.
“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,” Holmes said. “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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Lions Trade Proposal Sends Veteran Bills DT to Detroit