3. Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions have one of the best cornerbacks in the Division, if not the league. Darius Slay is a lockdown cornerback after signing a contract extension, the Lions seem to believe in him too. Another important stat about Slay is how great he was on third down last season.
Darius Slay-ed on third downs last year pic.twitter.com/YAhN37cZDQ
— PFF (@PFF) June 28, 2017
If he can play this well again, or even better, it’s going to make teams challenge the rest of the defense. In Detroit, fans shouldn’t worry that Slay has his man locked up.
Across from Slay is a cornerback that gets picked on more often because of Slay’s ability. Nevin Lawson is coming into his third season as a starter for the Lions. He’s a quality NFL cornerback, but he gets challenged a lot more because he doesn’t have the ability of Slay. Lawson is in a make or break season though since the Lions drafted another corner so early, so that could lead him to have a stellar season.
The cornerback many peg to be the number two in Detroit fairly soon is rookie Teez Tabor. He was Detroit’s second round selection out of Florida and though he had a rough combine, he was a playmaker in college. And in the NFL, it only takes one big play to change an entire game.
The nickel cornerback situation will also be interesting as Quandre Diggs and D.J. Hayden will battle it out for snaps. Diggs is coming off an injury, so it seems Hayden is an insurance policy in case Diggs can’t produce at the same level. If Diggs comes back this entire unit should get a boost. If it’s Hayden though I’m not sure the outcome will be as grand.