The Detroit Lions have not only struggled on defense this season but have now traded away one of their defensive leaders. Will that be the answer?
So far this season the Detroit Lions have been underwhelming on the defensive side of the ball. All the anticipation of a big leap forward following their hot finish to last year has faded.
Right now Lions fans would be happy if their team could look remotely like they have an NFL defense because they haven’t done that too much so far. It’s been disappointing and mind-boggling all at once. How could so much promise, combined with additional talent implode as it has?
Yet that is the problem that Matt Patricia is faced with; figure out what’s wrong and how to correct it. It shouldn’t be rocket science, but it sure is starting to seem like it. However, one might think this should be right up Patricia’s alley since he is a rocket scientist himself.
Now, in all honesty, some of his defensive stalwarts are not having a good year and injuries haven’t helped, but is the depth so shallow that they cannot compete once a starter goes down?
And if there are depth issues, how does the trade of safety Quandre Diggs help? After all, that just means the depth has suddenly gotten even thinner in the defensive backfield.
Last season the Lions traded receiver Golden Tate because they did not feel they would be able to re-sign him. What was the reasoning behind trading Diggs?
Perhaps there was a falling out between Diggs and Patricia that no one knew about? Maybe the play of rookie safety Will Harris, at least in practice, was encouraging enough that the Lions wanted to open up more playing time for him?
One way or another, the Lions’ reasoning of addition by subtraction is debatable. Especially considering that Diggs was one of the teams’ leaders. A leader that many of his former teammates went to social media to say good-bye to and also express their displeasure at his leaving.
Without any explanation of why they removed the heart of the secondary, this move better start showing results quickly before the natives really get restless.