5 storylines that should define the Detroit Lions defense in 2025
Allen Park — After Saturday’s season-preview look at the Detroit Lions’ offense, we turn our attention to the team’s defense. Here are five storylines that have our attention heading into the 2025 campaign.
On edge about the edge
The defining story from last season was injuries.
Detroit’s defense took the brunt of the damage, losing Aidan Hutchinson, Derrick Barnes, Alim McNeill, Carlton Davis III, Malcolm Rodriguez, Marcus Davenport and John Cominsky to season-ending injuries.
Who could have guessed, by the time the playoffs rolled around, 30-year-old DJ Reader, who was coming off a quad tear that had him miss training camp, would be the last man standing from the team’s projected starting defensive line?
The injury bug’s infestation clearly hasn’t been eradicated heading into the 2025 campaign. Beyond McNeill and Rodriguez, with rehabs expected to carry into the middle of this season, the Lions have already lost Levi Onwuzurike and second-year cornerback Ennie Rakestraw for the year. Plus, a non-football injury for Josh Paschal has lingered longer than initially anticipated. It will sideline him at least the first four games of the regular season.
Didn’t Bobby Layne’s 50-year curse expire in 2008? Do we need to call Jeff Daniels and Peyton Manning back to Ford Field for another exorcism?
Look, Lions fans are on edge. In particular, about the edge, the one opposite Hutchinson. Davenport is a good player. In many ways, he’s a perfect, pocket-crushing schematic fit across the line from Detroit’s homegrown superstar. However, durability has undeniably been an issue for a while now. He’s four seasons removed from his peak production, requiring as many surgeries as the sacks he's recorded over the past three years.