Pride of Detroit
On Thursday, news broke that Detroit Lions second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw was headed on injured reserve following shoulder surgery. His 2025 season has already come to an end, which is obviously a really tough break for the 23-year-old cornerback. He has already had to fight his way through several injuries, and he’ll have just eight game appearances and a mere 46 defensive snaps over his first two NFL seasons.
But as coach Dan Campbell likes to say in the face of an injury, while it’s terrible for the player, it’s also a tremendous opportunity for other players behind Rakestraw on the depth chart. And with other moveable parts in the secondary—like Rock Ya-Sin being cross-trained at safety and Amik Robertson’s versatility to play both nickel and outside cornerback—the Lions could go several different directions with the vacant roster spot. Dan Jackson’s injury also likely opens a spot at safety.
First, consider the likely roster locks in the secondary:
That’s seven guys, and as our own John Whiticar pointed out, the Lions have historically kept 11 defensive backs on their initial 53-man roster.
At outside cornerback, the depth looks particularly worrisome with five players who were added in just the past month. However, when you consider Ya-Sin’s and Robertson’s versatility, that’s your outside CBs three and four right there. Having Maddox and Branch capable of dropping into the nickel position helps cover those players should they have to slide outside.
Still, there’s so much opportunity in this secondary, and it’s hard to know how the Lions are going to fill those voids. Will this ultimately prove favorable for Detroit’s promising young safeties like Loren Strickland, Morice Norris, and/or undrafted rookie Ian Kennelly? Or will one of the new additions at cornerback stand out and land their way onto the 53-man roster.
Erik Schlitt and I discussed this at length on this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast, starting in the second segment. It’s worth noting that at the time of recording Rakestraw had not yet been placed on injured reserve, but we knew it was a long-term injury that required surgery.
Other topics this week, include:
Check out the entire episode below in the Spotify embed, or check us out on whatever your favorite podcasting platform is by searching “Pride of Detroit.”
You can also watch the show on YouTube or Twitch, which includes significantly more Lions discussion in between breaks.
