How the Detroit Lions can fix their defense, plus draft talk

When Quin we expect to win a ring

Our safeties, like our corners, feature one star player. Glover Quin has been a steady, very good player ever since arriving in Detroit from Houston. As our free safety, he has played at a Pro Bowl level, despite being snubbed for the honor.

The problem has come after Quin, though. Tavon Wilson, now on injured-reserve, was only a marginal starter prior to his shoulder injury landing him on the deactivated list.

New Diggs

Miles Killebrew, the projected backup at strong safety, has had a rather poor showing after being a very good third down option last year.

The Lions have actually carried five safeties all year: Quin, Wilson, Killebrew, Charles Washington, and special-team’er, Don Carey. What is odd is that when Wilson went down, it has been Quandre Diggs, a cornerback, that has been inserted as the starting strong safety, not any of the other three named players.

I think that tells you a lot about the talent after Quin. To reiterate the point about the cornerbacks, the unit lacks speed, although many of the best safeties do not run faster than a 4.5 second forty yard dash. If you don’t have great speed at corner, you’d better have some safeties that can hoof it.

For reference, Jabrill Peppers and Jamal Adams, the top strong safeties from the 2017 draft,  ran  4.47 and 4.56 at the combine, respectively.