Detroit Lions: What have we learned from free agency?

It’s almost a coin toss as to which direction they will go. Offense or defense. Having the ability to get a player that they can plug in for the next decade and be very productive. There are still needs to be filled on both sides of the ball and I believe Bob Quinn and Matt Patrica would be very excited to get their hands on either one of these players.

We’ll start on defense. The Lions were considered the favorites to land former Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr. This doesn’t mean it still can’t happen, but it hasn’t at least yet and the Lions do still have more money to spend as they see fit.

But what if they added another talented player at outside linebacker without leaving their own roster? Here is possibility number one. The Lions select LSU middle linebacker, Devin White. This would give the Lions an incredibly talented player in the middle who is more adept than Jarrad Davis in pass coverage and is not only a sideline to sideline playmaker, but an exceptional leader as well.

Davis is very talented, but he has had his issues in pass coverage and occasionally being overly eager in his route to the ball causing him to miss some tackles. This would be considered an upgrade to a player who will be a perennial pro bowler.

The other side to the equation is that Davis proved himself to be quite adept on the blitz this past season, therefore he could be not only used as the second middle backer in the frequent 3-4 sets the Lions defense will line up in, but can also be kicked out on the edge to contribute to the pass-rush if not just being sent on the blitz up the middle.

Remember that both Matt Patricia and defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni believe in the pass rush not being an individual responsibility but a collective team responsibility.

This pick would kill two birds with one stone and Patricia would get another shiny new toy at his favorite position, linebacker. Then there is the other option…