Pride of Detroit
Another injury claimed the potential of Marcus Davenport breaking out, but is there room for a reunion next season?
Our 2025 Detroit Lions free agent series continues. We’re breaking down each and every single decision the team must make with their pending free agent class ahead of this offseason including what their expectations were coming into the 2024 season, how they performed, and ultimately their chances of returning to Detroit for the next season.
Next up in the series is Marcus Davenport, a player who barely got his season off the ground before ending up back on injured reserve.
Here’s a look at our previously written free agent profiles: QB Teddy Bridgewater, WR Allen Robinson, WR Tim Patrick, G Kevin Zeitler, OT Dan Skipper, EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad, DT Levi Onwuzurike, DT Pat O’Connor, DT Kyle Peko, LB Derrick Barnes, CB Carlton Davis, CB Emmanuel Moseley, CB Kindle Vildor, CB Khalil Dorsey, S Ifeatu Melifonwu, and K Michael Badgley.
The Detroit Lions entered the 2024 offseason with their top-snapping edge defenders from 2023 in tow: Aidan Hutchinson (90% of defensive snaps), John Cominsky (52%), and Josh Paschal (37%) were all set to return. But with Romeo Okwara and Charles Harris both bound for free agency—and Julian Okwara leaving for a chance with the Philadelphia Eagles—Detroit was in need of not only a reliable fourth veteran, but an upgrade who could more consistently take advantage of the attention offenses were giving to Hutchinson and Alim McNeill.
Finding a player like that proves to be difficult in free agency. Effective and productive edge rushers rarely hit the open market, so it was going to require Brad Holmes and Rob Lohman, the Lions director of pro scouting, to do some real digging to find a player who could fit that description. Marcus Davenport fit the bill.
“Listen, this man fits exactly who we want to be on defense,” Glenn said in September about Davenport. “Especially playing outside of (Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch. He’s a violent, he’s a physical, he’s an athletic big man that plays the game the right way. So, you’re absolutely right—if you’ve got a guy like that that can bull rush and that can condense the pocket, that allows Hutch and other guys to go to work, and we expect that.”
After suffering an injury in 2023 that resulted in the Minnesota Vikings choosing not to re-up with the veteran edge rusher, Davenport represented an opportunity to strike that balance between value and forgotten potential. Aaron Glenn’s overlap with Davenport in New Orleans with the Saints further cemented that confidence in taking a chance on a guy who had racked up 9.0 sacks and 42 pressures in just 11 games back in 2021.
2 games (1 start): 2 tackles, 7 pressures, 4 quarterback hits, 0.5 sacks—89 snaps (154th out of 210 edge defenders)
PFF Defensive grade: 53.1 (t-161st out of 210 edge defenders)
PFF Run Defense grade:...
