There’s plenty of players to point to as underachievers, but these five Detroit Lions have offered practically nothing over the first eight weeks.
As the only winless team left in the league this season, no player is totally immune from criticism for the 0-8 Detroit Lions. In some respect, a Week 9 bye is coming at a good time to reset, re-evaluate and make some changes where it’s viable to do so.
In particular, head coach Dan Campbell has pointed to some changes, shy of a quarterback change that wouldn’t make things better anyway, to help a moribund offense. In a broader sense, shifting some playing time around on both sides of the ball can’t make things worse.
The Lions have plenty of improvement to do, from the coaches on down to players who aren’t going away in prominent roles. But these five players have offered almost nothing thus far, and they have to called out.
5 Lions players who have brought almost nothing to the table in 2021
5. FB Jason Cabinda
To be fair, there’s not much room for a fullback in an offense that has had two running backs on the field for 79 offensive snaps this season (15.4 percent, per Sharp Football). But Cabinda isn’t playing much more on special teams (65 offensive snaps vs. 112 special teams snaps in seven games played).
Among all Lions players with at least 50 snaps played thus far (h/t to Lions Wire), Cabinda has the fourth-worst Pro Football Focus grade (48.4). Given how little he’s played, and produced (one catch, three tackles), it’s eye-opening how bad that PFF grade is. The other Lions with bad PFF grades going into the bye week have at least played a lot, offering a larger sample to be analyzed.
In all honesty, there has to be a better use for Cabinda’s roster spot. Someone who makes a difference on special teams coverage/return units? An extra offensive lineman? Practically anything would work.
4. TE Darren Fells
In fairness to Fells, he’s basically an offensive lineman disguised as a tight end (6-foot-7, 270 pounds). The Lions also have a clear-cut No. 1 tight end in T.J. Hockenson, and don’t have two or more tight ends on the field all that often (88 snaps all season so far, according to Sharp Football).
Over the last two games, Brock Wright has been elevated to the active roster and played a total of 33 offensive snaps at tight end for the Lions. Over the same span, Fell has seen 43 offensive snaps (a season-high 28 in Week 8, surely owing mostly to a blowout loss to the Eagles).
Not that the return would have been great, probably a conditional seventh-round pick, but Fells seemed like a possible trade candidate for the Lions heading into the deadline. He’s not part of the future in Detroit, and he’s barely part of the present in a notable way (five targets, 17.8 percent route participation–the latter according to Player Profiler). There is a better way to deploy a second tight end, and the Lions started moving that direction with Wright over the two games before the bye.
Fells is in line for less work after the bye, and he’s done almost nothing to this point anyway.
3. S Dean Marlowe
Marlowe barely played in Week 1 and Week 2 (one defensive snap), then registered a season-high 76 percent snap share in Week 3 out of the blue. He was inactive in Week 7 against the Rams, then started against the Eagles in Week 8 (60 percent snap share). In total, he has 14 combined tackles with zero interceptions or pass breakups.
The Lions clearly wanted to try Marlowe as an alternative to Will Harris (who has the team’s second-worst 32.4 PFF grade through Week 8) against the Eagles. Philadelphia barely having to throw the ball as they dominated on the ground was a definite factor in a relative lack of impact as Tracy Walker’s new partner in the starting lineup.
Marlowe hasn’t stood out like a sore thumb, but he also hasn’t made a real impact when given an opportunity either. It’ll be intereresting to see what his role looks like coming out of the bye, as perhaps the lesser of two evils compared to the abysmal Harris. But the Lions’ search for anything resembling a capable safety to pair with Walker looks sure to be pushed into free agency or trades next March and/or the 2022 draft.
2. DL Michael Brockers
Via Lions Wire, Brockers has posted the team’s third-worst Pro Football Focus grade through eight games (42.1). Detroit has the league’s 30th-ranked run defense entering Week 9 (134.5 yards allowed per game), with the former Ram in a prominent (72 percent snap share) and not especially impactful role (one sack, one quarterback hit, three tackles for loss, three quarterback pressure.
Brockers also got a contract extension upon being acquired last offseason. He has tried to advance himself as a team leader, preaching accountability earlier in the season before more recently citing how poorly he has played. If he had been playing better, other teams may have come calling before the trade deadline. But since he has been as bad as he’s been, with not playing next to Aaron Donald anymore as an easy to see reason why he has dropped off, his name recognition carried no weight to bring trade suitors.
Brockers should cede some snaps to rookie Levi Onwuzurike after the bye. The Lions’ run defense and interior pass rush push can’t get much worse, and reducing Brockers’ role can a least bring a look at some younger players who have a future with the franchise.
1. WR Trinity Benson
In search of wide receiver depth, Lions general manager Brad Holmes sent not one but two 2022 draft picks (one a conditiional seventh-round pick) to the Denver Broncos for Benson and a 2023 seventh-round pick in late-August.
The Lions have been in search of someone, anyone, to step up at wide receiver with injuries to Tyrell Williams and Quintez Cephus thinning the ranks. Amon-Ra St. Brown and Kalif Raymond have had moments and some solid game. Meanwhile, Benson saw decreasing action before playing a season-best 73 percent snap share in the 44-6 Week 8 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles. Not that the stat sheet showed how much he played in a blowout, with zero catches and zero targets in the game.
All told Benson has six catches for 55 yards over six games played for the Lions the season, with four of those catches (for 43 yards) in the first two games. He’s not been playing on special teams at all, so he hasn’t done anything in that facet as a return man, etc. based purely on having no opportunities. That latter part seems unlikely to change, at least with return roles pretty much accounted for.
And in terms of a role on offense, Benson needed a Week 8 blowout to play more snaps (45) than he had played in his previous two games combined (41 in Week 5 and Week 6; he was inactive in Week 7 and Week 8). So his minimal contribution through eight weeks, particularly over the last six weeks, is not set for any kind of uptick.