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Deeper look: 3 Senior Bowl prospects to help the Detroit Lions defense

By Michael Kirkland

MOBILE, AL - JANUARY 28: Taywan Taylor #82 of the South team is tackled by John Johnson #9 of the North team and Desmond King #14 during the first half of the Reese's Senior Bowl at the Ladd-Peebles Stadium on January 28, 2017 in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
MOBILE, AL - JANUARY 28: Taywan Taylor #82 of the South team is tackled by John Johnson #9 of the North team and Desmond King #14 during the first half of the Reese's Senior Bowl at the Ladd-Peebles Stadium on January 28, 2017 in Mobile, Alabama. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

The Detroit Lions are coaching in the Senior Bowl this weekend, who are three prospects there that might help the defense in the April draft?

The Detroit Lions defense was historically bad in 2019 but they have an opportunity to change their fortunes for 2020. The Reese’s Senior Bowl, which the Lions staff will be coaching in on January 25, allows them to look at some prospects that can help them change the direction of the defense. We’re going to profile in a bit more depth three players that can help the Lions defense after their first-round pick.

In the annals of its turbulent results, the Detroit Lions defense gave up more yardage in 2019 than in any year aside from their winless campaign back in 2008. Take a second and let that sink in. Head coach Matt Patricia’s defense gave up a staggering 400.4 yards-per-game compared to 404.4 yards-per-game surrendered by the ’08 team according to the NFL website.

Here at Kick In The Crotch Weekly, we don’t spin lies, we only speak truth. That’s only four yards difference per game. They did everything poorly on defense, tackling (which had been a strength in ’18), rushing the passer or generating pressure on the quarterback, and they were last in passing yardage, as well.

In fact, if you put the collective performances of Lions opposing quarterbacks together, that person would be an All-Pro. Their stat line: 4,551 yards, 33 touchdowns, seven interceptions, with a 62.4 completion percentage, while only being sacked 28 times.

Those numbers eclipse second-team All-Pro, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s year and are only ten touchdowns short of first-team selection, Lamar Jackson’s MVP, video game stats, according to the Pro Football Reference website.

Neither man accumulated more total yards, 4,333 (Jackson) and 4,452 (Wilson), but both surpassed the number of touchdowns by 1 total score or more in Jackson’s case. The two men’s completion percentages are slightly higher than our composite All-Pro but you can connect those dots about how bad that is.

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