Lions loaded up on vet safeties ahead of draft, but long-term, injury concerns persist
Allen Park — When considering how an NFL team will approach the upcoming draft, you have to look beyond the immediate roster needs. Each selection should be viewed as a four-year investment. Therefore, we must weigh the bigger picture with each possible choice.
Heading into the 2026 NFL draft, we’re going to take a position-by-position look at Detroit’s roster, focusing on areas where the team might add talent in the event. Today, we’ll look at safeties.
Current roster: Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, Thomas Harper, Christian Izien, Avonte Maddox, Chuck Clark, Loren Strickland, Dan Jackson
Short-term need: 3/10
Long-term need: 3/10 (If Joseph and Branch return to form), 9/10 if one or both don’t
Analysis: With Joseph and Branch facing injury-related uncertainty, the Lions aggressively stocked the cupboards with experienced veterans in free agency.
Supplementing the returning Harper — an August waiver claim started nine games as an injury replacement last year — Detroit added Izien and Clark, as well as re-signed Maddox.
That’s viable and versatile insurance if Joseph’s nagging knee injury doesn’t improve after sidelining the 2024 All-Pro most of last season, or Branch’s Achilles repair carries into the second half of the upcoming campaign.
Those injuries also present long-term concerns. Will Joseph ever regain his range and playmaking ability? Or will Branch, already an average athlete for the position who relied on his instincts, lose a half-step during his recovery from a frequently explosion-sapping injury?
The Lions have expressed more confidence regarding Branch’s recovery as he enters the final year of his rookie contract. The team is hoping to lock him up with an extension, but any deal could, or should hinge on how he looks once he gets back on the field.
Regardless, all that uncertainty makes safety a sneaky draft need, even if the Lions already strengthened their insurance policy for the upcoming season.
Paths in the draft
Outside of Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, who could potentially come off the board in the first five selections, Detroit could have their pick of safeties.
While addressing the position in the opening round is unlikely, we can’t fully dismiss the possibility. The player meriting consideration in Detroit’s range is Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman.
Speedy, explosive and versatile, Thieneman is more Branch-like than a potential Joseph replacement. Still, you could build a pretty unique defense around the two chess pieces, who could easily share the field in a nickel package because of their shared commitment and effectiveness playing the run.
Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren could also sneak into the first round, but would probably be a reach for the Lions at 17. Long and lean at 6-foot-4, he’s also more experienced playing in the box, with a penchant for violence.
“When I’m on the field, I can let all my anger out on the field,” McNeil-Warren said at the combine. “You bleed just how I bleed. We’re both human, so we going to bleed together.”
On Day 2, LSU’s AJ Haulcy and TCU’s Bud Clark carry appeal. Both play with tremendous swagger, although Clark is a little more noisy about it, pairing his playmaking with spirited trash talk. His personality will quickly remind you of Joseph or former Lions cornerback Darius Slay.
Haulcy is a chiseled six-foot, 215 pounds. He’s lined up wherever the Tigers have needed him in the defensive backfield, playing more strong safety in 2024 and centerfield last season. Regardless, he always finds ways to make plays on the ball, tallying eight interceptions and a forced fumble across the two campaigns.
Clark, a former high school centerfielder, showcases that tracking ability in deep zones, tallying at least three interceptions each of the past four seasons. If there’s a one-to-one replacement for Kerby in this draft, he’s arguably the closest.
Drafting a safety on Day 3 might not make much sense for the Lions, given how they’ve constructed their roster. A prospect selected in that range would be facing an uphill battle for a roster spot against a more proven veteran. They’d have to demonstrate high-end special teams contributions almost immediately.
One prospect who might fit that description is Texas’ Michael Taaffe. He’s a former no-star recruit who grinded his way up the depth chart with work ethic and football IQ.
It seems most years there are some players that everyone thinks will be a first rounder that ends up slipping to the second. I'm wondering who might fit the bill this year. Safety seems like a logical spot given the value proposition of drafting one in the first.
I think the first round is going to be filled with a LOT of OTs and EDGEs.
There's going to be premier talent available at the top of the second round.
Interesting that Kilgore and Payne are not mentioned.