Predicting the Detroit Lions’ offseason: Free agency and the draft

Free Agency

There are certainly plenty of players that fit the Lions needs in free agency. Starting on the defensive side of the ball, there is talent to choose from. Sheldon Richardson, Muhammad Wilkerson, Dontari Poe, Dominique Easley and the Lions own Haloti Ngata if they should choose to re-sign him.

Any one of them could help upgrade the Lions run defense as well as help give the pocket a push on passing downs. However, I believe the key at defensive tackle is a player that could play nose-tackle when the Lions use a 3-4 front and still thrive in a 4-3 since Matt Patricia will most likely use both equally depending on opponents and in-game adjustments.

With that in mind, I think former Tennessee Titan, DaQuan Jones, is the perfect fit. Jones is still only 26 years old and at 6’4″ and 320 lbs, he is the prototypical bull elephant that Patricia likes anchoring his defensive line.

Jones did finish the season on the injured reserve with a torn biceps, but he was very good at stuffing the run and actually had 3.5 sacks before missing the final four games of the season due to his injury.

The prospect of Jones next to Robinson, especially if Patricia can work his magic to get the most of of them as he always seemed to do as the Patriots defensive coordinator, is actually a pretty scary thought.

Jones is also still a little under the radar so his price tag could very well be just what the Lions want to help leave room to add other pieces.