Great news: Detroit Lions seems to be targeting five strong talented players
5 free agent edge rushers Detroit Lions should have on their radar
If you were making a list of draft needs for the Detroit Lions, or doing a mock draft, edge rusher was on the radar. They were toward the bottom of the league with 41 sacks during the regular season, though a late surge (18 over the final six weeks, nine sacks in the playoffs) should be noted.
In free agency, Marcus Davenport was added to the edge rusher mix. He has two or fewer sacks in three of the last four seasons though, as injuries have taken him off the field regularly. Last season with the Vikings, he played in just four games. While the Lions look like a really good landing spot for him, counting on Davenport for much of anything feels foolish.
The Lions will have James Houston returning to health after an ankle injury derailed his 2023 season. Josh Paschal, if healthy, has potential to be a difference maker off the edge. Last season’s CFL sack leader, Mathieu Betts, is an interesting flier.
If that sounds like an awful lot of hypotheticals and ‘ifs’ for edge rusher production outside of Aidan Hutchinson, not too unlike last season, it’s not your imagination. The group outside of Hutchinson (Charles Harris, Romeo Okwara) was ripe for offseason turnover, but it hasn’t fully come.
So it’s fair to wonder if the Lions will circle back to the free agent market after the draft to add an edge rusher. Maybe they won’t, as Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports suggested. But there’s also a case for that spot being the biggest weakness on their roster now.
Here are five free agent edge rushers who should be on the Lions’ radar, such as they may be looking.
5. Myjai Sanders
A third-round pick by the Arizona Cardinals in 2022, Sanders is looking for his third NFL team in as many seasons. The Cardinals waived him off IR early last season and the Houston Texans claimed him. He had zero sacks in seven games for Houston last year, and they waived him in April after they added to their defensive line.
Over his final three seasons in college at Cincinnati, Sanders had 13.5 sacks and 24.5 tackles for loss. That potential should still be there at 25 years, even with a less than ideal start to his NFL career.
Sanders stands out as a “sign him, give him an opportunity and promise him nothing” flier for someone. The Lions could at least do that, in the name of added competition in the edge rusher mix.
4. Emmanuel Ogbah
Ogbah was moved inside more by the Dolphins after the acquisition of Bradley Chubb in 2022, and his sack production dropped (6.5 over the last two seasons, with an injury ending his 2022 season early). He still had 5.5 sacks and 15 pressures last season, over 246 snaps (15 games), but with cap concerns he has an easy offseason cut for Miami.
Ogbah is versatile, able to line up inside or outside, standing up or with his hand on the ground out on the edge. A rotational role would suit him best at this point in his career, and as mentioned he thrived in a role like that last year. That also happens to be the kind of role the Lions would slot him into to help their pass rush.
Plenty of teams could see Ogbah as a valuable veteran to add to their defensive front. The Lions should be among them.
3. Carl Lawson
Lawson is a popular post-draft edge rusher target for the Lions in other places, so let’s get on the bandwagon here.
After playing all 17 games for the New York Jets in 2022, Lawson played in just six games for them last season. He was often a healthy scratch due to the depth the Jets had, and he was the subject of trade rumors. But that 2022 campaign was a solid bounce-back (seven sacks) after he missed the entire 2021 season with a torn Achilles, and now he’s further removed from the injury.
Lawson makes a lot of sense for the Lions as a cheap flier, and at this point his options look thin. Being devalued by the Jets is absolutely not a knock on what he can offer to another team (see Bryce Huff and John Franklin-Myers).
2. Markus Golden
Golden’s sack production has been up-and-down over the course of his career. Last season with the Steelers was a downturn, with four sacks in 16 games and 230 defensive snaps. But 16 pressures on 117 pass rush snaps (according to PFF) is a pretty good pressure rate (13.7 percent), and he had at least 46 pressures in each of the four previous seasons. Among all edge defenders last year, regardless of snap volume, Golden’s overall PFF grade (83.5) was tied for 15th-best and his pass rush grade (77.6) was top-30.
Golden is, frankly, a sneaky good pass rusher who probably gets overlooked because of his fluctuation in sack numbers. He seems like the kind of player the Lions would uncover, and COO Mike Disner was in Arizona front office (though not in a personnel or scouting role) when the Cardinals drafted him.
1. Yannick Ngakoue
Prior to last season with the Chicago Bears (four sacks), Ngakoue had at least eight sacks in each of his first seven NFL seasons. He has become very well-traveled in recent years, playing for five teams over the last four seasons, with a noted drop in his pass rush grades from Pro Football Focus over that span that finally seemed to show in his sack production last season.
But Ngakoue did have 34 quarterback pressures last year, good for second on the Bears in 13 games. Sack numbers are inherently random and not necessarily reflective of a pass rusher’s effectiveness, as shown with Hutchinson for a stretch last season.
An ankle injury ended Ngakoue’s 2023 season, but his recent post on Twitter seems to suggest he’s healthy and ready to go. It also serves as a Bat-signal to teams who may be in the market for an edge rusher.
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