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Eric Woodyard, ESPN
DETROIT — The Lions celebrated a division championship last season for the first time in 30 years, but general manager Brad Holmes made it clear they have a bigger goal in mind: Winning a Super Bowl.
So, every move that they made — and didn’t make in free agency — was intentional as they attempted to upgrade the roster, notably on the defense.
Under Holmes’ vision and the direction of coach Dan Campbell, Detroit tackled some of its major offseason needs ahead of the upcoming draft, including free agent additions such as former Cincinnati Bengals defensive tackle DJ Reader, veteran outside linebacker Marcus Davenport and former Las Vegas Raiders cornerback Amik Robertson.
They also re-signed veteran CB Emmanuel Moseley, who appeared in just one game last season due to a knee injury, and traded for cornerback Carlton Davis III from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a starter on their team that won Super Bowl LV.
“Every move that we make, it’s to win in December,” Holmes said. “It’s not to win March, April and May, which it’s easy to do. You can — if that’s your aim — you can win headlines, you can win March, April and May. But know everything is intentional and it may look strange, it may look like, ‘Well, why’d they do this? Why’d …’ — trust me. It is to win in December.
“And so that’s why we’ve made the moves that we have made. And look, the reality is this: Everyone can’t play here. Everyone can’t play for the Detroit Lions. That’s just a standard that has been set.”
Despite making an NFC Championship Game appearance for the first time since 1991, the Lions knew they needed to be aggressive in upgrading the defensive unit, with coordinator Aaron Glenn returning after receiving serious head coaching interest.
In 2023, the Lions allowed 7.8 yards per pass attempt, which was second worst in the league to the Cincinnati Bengals at 8.1. They also allowed 34 completions on passes of 20+ air yards, per ESPN Stats & Information. Only the Bengals (35) and Houston Texans (34) had as many. They allowed a 40.5% completion percentage on such passes, which was 20th in the NFL.
As a whole, the Lions allowed opponents to score a touchdown on 23% of their drives, which ranked 25th in the league. Only 17% of opponent drives ended with a three-and-out, which ranked 28th.
After spending six seasons in Tampa Bay where he started in 75 of 76 career games, Davis welcomes the challenge of helping the Lions improve in those departments.
“You about to get a lockdown corner,” Davis said. You’re about to be able to have one side just like unavailable. That’s what I do. I’m here take out the No. 1 receiver on any team. I’m here to deny the ball. I’m here to take the ball away and you guys had some good DBs last year.
“Obviously, I play defense so I’m more focused on the offense, but you guys played good on defense for sure. Looking forward to getting to know these guys, meshing with these guys, and I’m hoping I can lead them to a Super Bowl.”
Additionally, the Lions ranked 27th in the NFL and last among playoff teams in pass rush win rate at 35.8%. Only the Chargers, Cardinals, Broncos, Saints and Falcons were worse.
Their run stop win rate of 27.2% was the second worst among playoff teams; the only playoff team worse than that was the Super Bowl champion Chiefs at 27.1%. Their run stop win rate by interior lineman was 27.4%, second worst in the league, ahead of only the Chiefs.
Enter Reader, who was a key part of the Bengals’ run defense. Over the last three seasons, the Bengals have allowed 4.1 yards per rush when he’s on the field, which ranks fifth in the NFL, compared to 4.8 yards per rush when he’s off the field, ranked 31st.
After experiencing Cincinnati’s Super Bowl run in 2021, Reader noticed the similarities between the Lions’ and Bengals’ turnarounds during his visit to the practice facility on Thursday. That environment and the presence of Campbell are what attracted Reader to sign with Detroit.
He’s excited to be paired with Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill, a fellow North Carolina native, as well as edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson.
“I think they’re ahead of where I was when I got there (to Cincinnati),” Reader said. “I was telling them upstairs that these guys got that same taste in their mouth that I got. I got to the Super Bowl and lost. These guys got to the NFC Championship and lost. So, everybody in this building has that same goal to go get that taste out their mouth.”
The Lions feel like they’ve improved their defense significantly; only time will tell if it results in winning a Super Bowl.
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