The Detroit Lions take the field in the first game of the 2026 season on Sunday. Desperate to erase the bad taste the 2025 campaign left in their mouth, the Lions hope to begin the season with a big win over the New Orleans Saints.
The front office, coaching staff, and the fans are highly confident about the state of the roster and the team's chances of making a deep postseason run. This doesn't mean, however, that there aren't any concerns about the roster.
One of the biggest areas of concern is the defensive backfield. The Lions have opted against making significant additions despite Terrion Arnold's departure and the injuries to Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph. GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell like the depth and quality they have in the secondary.
In fact, Campbell doubled down on his confidence in the group once again ahead of Week 1. In his appearance on 97.1 The Ticket this week, Campbell had a lot of praise for the secondary.
Dan Campbell reiterates his faith in the defensive backfield before the season
Saying that this is "the best position we’ve been in in the secondary without those two guys [Branch, Joseph] in a long time," Campbell added, "Maddox and Chuck are very reliable, dependable, smart football players—highly competitive. Rock and Reed, man, are highly competitive (and) get the job done. They’re gonna compete, they’re gonna battle, nothing’s too big for them. We’ve got McCreary, we’ve got Abney, we’ve got Rake. I like where we’re at,” per Jeremy Reisman of Pride of Detroit.
This is in line with what Campbell and Holmes have been saying all offseason. Even though the fanbase has been desperately calling for upgrades in the defensive backfield, the Lions' decision-makers continued to put their trust in the players they had.
Campbell continued his remarks by saying that as long as everyone has a role to play and they do a good job in that role, the defense will be good. It's more about the overall defensive identity rather than individual talent.
The Lions were a bottom-half defense last season. Their pass defense left plenty to be desired, especially in the second half of the season. They finished the season as the 20th-best pass defense.
But this is a different group.
Avonte Maddox and Chuck Clark will start until Joseph and Branch are back. Rock Ya-Sin will get the start opposite DJ Reed. Whether this is an upgrade over last season's starting defensive backfield is unclear, but Campbell certainly seems to think so.
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