After a busy couple of weeks from Brad Holmes and the front office, which move so far will have the biggest impact for the Lions this season?
Heading into free agency, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes had his work cut out for him with plenty of players to re-sign and holes to be filled. And now, after news of free agent guard Kevin Zeitler intending to sign with the Lions on a one-year deal, it appears that, at least on paper, all of the Lions’ major holes have been filled. All that remains is adding more depth in free agency and going for the best player fit available in the upcoming NFL Draft.
Cornerback was the position that the Lions so desperately needed to upgrade this offseason, and Holmes got creative, trading for Carlton Davis from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Davis is a shutdown corner that fits the Lions perfectly and he should be able to step into a starting role right away.
Holmes also had big decisions to make on the offensive line and so far he’s handled things perfectly. Instead of paying Jonah Jackson $17 million per year, Holmes decided to go the stop-gap route and intends to sign Kevin Zeitler to a one-year deal when he arrives at the facility on Tuesday. The team also re-signed Graham Glasgow to a three-year deal and looks like they will be keeping an elite starting line-up on the offensive line, with the option to add some young depth in the draft.
Some other big moves were made on the defensive line. Instead of relying almost solely on Aidan Hutchinson and Alim McNeill to get into the backfield, the Lions went out and signed DJ Reader, a massive run-stopping DT that won’t get you a lot of sacks but is known to generate plenty of pressure and free up others. And if he can stay healthy, the Marcus Davenport one-year deal could end up being another big signing for the Lions. Davenport has had a tough time staying off the injury report, but when he’s healthy, he can cause some trouble for opposing offensive tackles and has a spin move that rivals Hutchinson’s.
Those are the key additions as we hit the second wave of free agency and await the NFL Draft, which leads us to today’s Question of the Day…
Which offseason acquisition will have the biggest on-field impact in 2024?
My answer: I’m going to go with DJ Reader.
Reader has been one of the top nose tackles in the NFL for quite some time and is the perfect fit for what the Lions are trying to do defensively. The Lions already had one of the top run defenses in the NFL last year, and adding Reader is only going to make them harder to run on. And while Reader isn’t going to pile up the sack numbers, he has been a very good pass rusher in limited opportunities. In 2023, Reader accounted for 34 total pressures on just 535 snaps. That would have been third-most on the Lions last year behind Hutchinson and McNeill and ahead of John Cominsky.
With that being said, Reader’s impact goes beyond the numbers, and just being on the field with his reputation is going to do a lot for his teammates as he will be eating up double teams and freeing up more opportunities for guys like McNeill, Hutchinson, Davenport, Houston, and others. Holmes has done a magnificent job of adding to the trenches this offseason and the defensive line looks especially better than it did last year.
Let’s hear from you. Let us know your answers/thoughts in the comments below.
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