The Lions defense is an interesting group for fantasy purposes. They'll have a new coordinator, of course, with Aaron Glenn taking the Jets head coaching job. And they really fell off the second half of last season.
They were gutted by injuries. Aidan Hutchinson (pictured) was lost for the season in Week 6; that was the biggest blow. But the secondary was also damaged, with Carlton Davis getting hurt (and he's now gone).
Through the first nine weeks of the season (eight games for Detroit), they recorded 11 interceptions. That was 2nd in the league, behind only Minnesota. They also allowed just 6 touchdown passes, 2nd-fewest. (Their 20 sacks was middle of the pack.) Table below sorted by interceptions.
| 1ST-HALF PASS DEFENSES, 2024 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | PaTD | Int | Sack |
| Minnesota | 14 | 13 | 27 |
| Detroit | 6 | 11 | 20 |
| New Orleans | 8 | 11 | 19 |
| Pittsburgh | 8 | 10 | 19 |
| Green Bay | 13 | 10 | 22 |
| San Francisco | 10 | 10 | 20 |
| LA Chargers | 7 | 9 | 24 |
| Buffalo | 11 | 8 | 21 |
| LA Rams | 15 | 8 | 21 |
| Houston | 19 | 8 | 29 |
| Denver | 11 | 7 | 31 |
| Atlanta | 15 | 7 | 9 |
| Chicago | 5 | 7 | 23 |
| Baltimore | 18 | 6 | 28 |
| Indianapolis | 14 | 6 | 20 |
| Seattle | 14 | 6 | 21 |
| Cincinnati | 13 | 6 | 17 |
| Tampa Bay | 18 | 5 | 25 |
| Las Vegas | 15 | 5 | 17 |
| Arizona | 11 | 5 | 21 |
| Kansas City | 11 | 5 | 17 |
| Philadelphia | 8 | 5 | 22 |
| New England | 12 | 4 | 16 |
| Dallas | 13 | 4 | 18 |
| Miami | 8 | 4 | 10 |
| Washington | 14 | 3 | 24 |
| Carolina | 18 | 3 | 10 |
| Tennessee | 12 | 3 | 18 |
| Jacksonville | 19 | 2 | 20 |
| NY Jets | 6 | 2 | 31 |
| NY Giants | 11 | 1 | 35 |
| Cleveland | 12 | 1 | 27 |
With injuries the primary factor, this defense totally fell off the map the second half of the season. Only 10 teams had fewer interceptions (5), while only seven teams had fewer sacks (17). A totally different defense.
| 2ND-HALF PASS DEFENSES (2024) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Defense | PaTD | Int | Sack |
| Houston | 12 | 11 | 20 |
| Minnesota | 10 | 11 | 22 |
| Indianapolis | 13 | 10 | 16 |
| Dallas | 15 | 9 | 34 |
| Cincinnati | 17 | 9 | 19 |
| Denver | 11 | 8 | 32 |
| Philadelphia | 14 | 8 | 19 |
| Buffalo | 17 | 8 | 18 |
| Tennessee | 15 | 8 | 14 |
| Kansas City | 13 | 8 | 22 |
| Green Bay | 10 | 7 | 23 |
| Seattle | 12 | 7 | 24 |
| Pittsburgh | 15 | 7 | 21 |
| Baltimore | 9 | 6 | 26 |
| LA Chargers | 17 | 6 | 22 |
| Carolina | 17 | 6 | 22 |
| Miami | 14 | 6 | 25 |
| NY Jets | 12 | 5 | 12 |
| LA Rams | 14 | 5 | 17 |
| Las Vegas | 14 | 5 | 21 |
| Atlanta | 19 | 5 | 22 |
| Detroit | 12 | 5 | 17 |
| NY Giants | 12 | 4 | 10 |
| Washington | 11 | 4 | 19 |
| Chicago | 12 | 4 | 17 |
| Arizona | 9 | 4 | 20 |
| Jacksonville | 10 | 4 | 14 |
| Cleveland | 14 | 3 | 14 |
| New Orleans | 11 | 3 | 20 |
| New England | 15 | 3 | 12 |
| Tampa Bay | 9 | 2 | 21 |
| San Francisco | 15 | 1 | 17 |
As to whether a rebound is forthcoming, we'll see. They promoted from within to replace Glenn. New coordinator Kelvin Sheppard coached linebackers under Glenn the past four years, so presumably he'll have the defense running the same kinds of things.
The Lions lost Davis, but they signed D.J. Reed away from the Jets. Similar-sized contracts (Reed's deal averages $16 million, Davis will make $18 million in New England), but they're getting a guy who was part of a top-5 pass defense a year ago (the Lions were next to last).
In the draft, Detroit used its top pick on Ohio State tackle Tyleik Williams. The 330-pounder had just 2.5 sacks but also 8 tackles for losses last year. His presence in the middle ideally will help the rest of the defense.
The Lions won't be in my top 10 defenses, but at the moment they're sitting in the top 15. Keep everyone healthy, and it should be a defense a little closer to what it was doing the first half of the year than the second.
--Andy Richardson