Pride of Detroit
The Lions are returning several familiar faces at EDGE. Who will improve the most in 2025?
The Detroit Lions are returning several familiar faces at EDGE in 2025. Some of them were battered by injuries, some were late additions, and some just need more time to blossom. Regardless, the Lions have an assortment of players whose production in 2025 will be somewhat of a wild card.
For starters, let’s rule out Aidan Hutchinson—he suffered a broken leg while playing as the best EDGE in the NFL by a considerable margin. We’ll be lucky to see him back to that level in 2025 considering how much of his offseason will be just getting back up to speed.
Beyond him though, a few names come to mind. First, there’s Marcus Davenport. He only appeared in two games for the Lions in 2024 before losing the rest of his season to injury. He had two tackles and half a sack to show for it. The Lions expected him to be a bigger part of their pass rushing rotation, and they’ve brought him back for 2025 for another shot to do so.
The next name is one you should be familiar with by now, Al-Quadin Muhammad. He, like Davenport, was brought back on a one-year deal for 2025. Muhammad was a midseason addition in 2024 after the Lions defense got battered with injuries, and Muhammad stepped up to have several clutch sacks for the Lions. He finished the year with eight tackles and three sacks, but his impact felt like a lot more than that.
Then, you have the up-and-coming Isaac Ukwu. Ukwu had a strong preseason for the Lions in 2024, but couldn’t make the 53-man roster. The Lions signed him to a futures deal this offseason, meaning he’ll be around Allen Park again. Ukwu logged two games for the Lions in October and contributed three tackles, but will be looking for a bigger piece of the pie in 2025.
Another wild card is Josh Pachal. He saw the most game action of his career in 2024, playing 14 games and starting in 10 of them. That didn’t translate to a ton of sacks, with just two to show for, but he showed flashes of dominance. He also had an assortment of mid-game injuries, so we’ll see if he can stay on the field and grow into his potential more.
My answer: When the Lions signed Davenport in 2024, I was skeptical of what his contributions would be given his injuries and limited play in 2023 with the Vikings. Obviously, 2024 didn’t do much to shake those concerns. I’m still skeptical, but clearly the Lions like what they saw out of him in limited action in 2024 enough to take a flyer on him for 2025. We’ll see how that translates to a larger sample.
Ukwu has a lot of promise, but the fact that he only...
