Detroit Lions: Five Things The 2016 Preseason Taught Us
3. The Lions are not deep anywhere else on defense.
Other than defensive tackle, the depth chart is pretty slim in most places.
Glover Quin is a Pro Bowl-caliber talent at safety, but at the other safety position the Lions need to choose between a just-adequate veteran in Rafael Bush and former New England Patriots second-round pick Tavon Wilson. Isaiah Johnson, special teams ace Don Carey and rookie Miles Killebrew round out the group. This unit isn’t bad overall, but it has a low ceiling. Killebrew plays more in the box, almost like a linebacker at times, which means that the team may opt to keep five safeties and have a true backup behind both starters in addition to Killebrew.
Darius Slay is good and Quandre Diggs has shown some flashes, but no one else at corner has really shown much in camp. Starting quarterbacks for Lions opponents completed 67% of their passes in the preseason, 75% if you remove the numbers from the Bills game, when no regular season starters played.
Nevin Lawson, slated to be the starter across from Slay, looked rough for most of the preseason, especially against the Baltimore Ravens. The rest of the cornerback group was no more convincing, as the entire unit failed to pick up an interception during any preseason games. The only Lion who picked off a pass in the preseason: second-year defensive end Brandon Copeland.
Speaking of defensive end, the Lions only have five guys who play end consistently on the roster. After Ezekiel Ansah and Devin Taylor, the Lions have career backup Wallace Gilberry, Copeland and Zettel. The starters are good, but the depth chart gets thin very quickly.
The Lions have two good linebackers in DeAndre Levy and Tahir Whitehead, but after them there are mostly question marks. Kyle Van Noy improved some and looked competent at times, but do the Lions trust him or Josh Bynes to handle a lot of snaps as the number three linebacker?
Jon Bostic is hurt and likely bound for injured reserve. The rest of the linebackers are young and have some upside, but none of them look like they could step in and play a lot of time right away if they needed to. Like at defensive end, the starters are good, but the lack of depth is very apparent.
Next: Number 4