Pride of Detroit
Veteran linebacker Ezekiel Turner could be one of the Detroit Lions’ sneaky re-signings.
The Detroit Lions linebacker room became a revolving door in 2024. Injury decimated the unit, forcing Detroit to play a lot of different players down the stretch.
While the play was sometimes painful to watch, it also gave the Lions an opportunity to figure out which players can still ball and who won’t be coming back for 2025.
One of those players is veteran linebacker Ezekiel Turner. After playing a significant number of snaps for Detroit in 2024, Turner now faces free agency and presents an interesting conversation for a potential re-signing.
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 Marcus Davenport, 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.
Turner spent most of the offseason with the San Francisco 49ers. He was released toward the end of training camp, then ended up signing to the Texans’ and Seahawks’ practice squad before he finally landed with the Lions in early November.
When he arrived in Detroit, expectations were fairly low. Detroit hadn’t been hit with its injury problems at linebacker yet. Turner was on the practice squad and the expectation was for him to likely stay there, unless the Lions thought they needed a boost on special teams.
While Turner came to the Lions with six years of NFL experience, a huge majority of his play was on special teams. Prior to arriving in Detroit, he had just 190 defensive snaps to his name compared to 1,769 on special teams. He had never played more than 107 defensive snaps in a season, and he only had two NFL starts.
So this just seemed like a basic special teams add.
9 games (0 starts): 12 tackles. 0.5 sacks, 3 QB hits — 111 defensive snaps, 189 special teams snaps
PFF Defensive grade: 49.7 (Did not qualify for ranking)
PFF Run Defense grade: 71.3
PFF Pass Rush grade: 69.6
PFF Tackling grade: 81.0
PFF Coverage grade: 39.1
PFF Special Teams grade: 77.4 (70th out of 697 qualifying special teamers)
Indeed, Turner started out as a special teamer. Just a few days after signing with the team, he was elevated for the Texans game and participated in 26 special teams snaps (86%). The next week, he signed to the 53-man roster. The rest of the season he would maintain a significant special teams role (playing at least 50% of snaps), but the most notable part came when Detroit’s linebacker injuries swept through the roster.
With Derrick Barnes, Alex Anzalone, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Jalen Reeves-Maybin all out toward the end of the season, Turner suddenly had carved out a significant defensive role.
At first,...
