Pride of Detroit
While the Detroit Lions had pieces of a successful offense under head coach Matt Patricia, it was the defense that stood out for all the wrong reasons.
The defensive mastermind failed to master anything during his time as head coach, and when time came to rebuild, new general manager Brad Holmes had a lot of work to do to clean up the mess left by Patricia and Bob Quinn. The early stages of the rebuild meant gutting the poor fits and bringing in new fits for the scheme and culture under head coach Dan Campbell and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
Quinn had set the Lions so far behind that there were practically no pieces to work with. An elite pass rusher? How about an overpaid free agent bust. Defensive tackles? How about unathletic road blocks. The secondary? Good luck. The Lions had to live with some of the bad contracts, but it was mostly an overhaul of what did not work—which was, safe to say, a lot.
Note: For 2020 and 2021, only players that played over 100 snaps will be listed. For specialists, any kicker, punter, or long snapper with a recorded appearance will be listed. For 2025, only players viewed as “likely” to make the roster will be listed.
For the previous version on the Lions’ transformed offense, click here.
2020: Romeo Okwara, Trey Flowers, Everson Griffen, Austin Bryant
Under Patricia, the Lions valued contain over pressure, the fallout of which led to multiple low-sack seasons from their defensive ends. Okwara broke into double digits in 2020, however, one of only three Lions to even record more than one sack that year. The other names on that list were Flowers, who missed the second half of the season with a shoulder injury, and Griffen, a midseason trade acquisition. Coupled with a subpar defensive tackle group, it was simply a horrendous situation along the defensive line.
2021: Charles Harris, Austin Bryant, Julian Okwara, Trey Flowers, Romeo Okwara, Jessie Lemonier
A successful 2020 campaign made re-signing Romeo Okwara an easy decision, but it was one that ultimately failed. Okwara tore his Achilles in Week 4 and never truly recovered from it—he did play out his entire contract in Detroit, however. Flowers, once viewed as a prized free agent, had another dismal year in Detroit, culminating with a stint on the injured reserve and a release the following year. Harris had a breakout 2021 campaign, but he has not since replicated that success. Bryant and Julian Okwara were two former draft picks that never panned out despite ample opportunity.
2025: Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, Josh Paschal, Ahmed Hassanein, Al-Quadin Muhammad
What a difference an elite pass rusher makes. Hutchinson is coming off a serious leg injury, but the body of work that he recorded in just five games of the 2024 season was absurd. He will be paired with Davenport, a player that missed most of his first season in Detroit with a triceps injury—consider 2025 a redo,...
