3 Detroit Lions players who should be demoted immediately

2. DE Michael Brockers

I pick on Brockers along certain lines a lot in spaces like this, and the overall effort of the Lions’ defense (and run defense) against Arizona probably wouldn’t have happened without him eating up space on the interior of the defensive line. But that’s really all he’s doing, eating up space with little individual statistical impact more befitting of his previous resume (one sack, one quarterback hit this season). In general this season the Lions’ run defense has not been good, and Brockers has to take a piece of the blame for that.

Brockers isn’t playing as much as he was early in the season, with a snap rate of 50 percent or less in six straight games and in seven of the last eight. There truly aren’t a lot of options to fill playing time at defensive end for the Lions, so whoever is available has to play. Brocker has been healthy all-around, so he plays.

But even 40 percent of snaps might be too much for Brockers. The drop-off from him is just not that steep right now, and maybe he’d be fresher (and more impactful) with even a few fewer snaps a game. A demotion might be hard to do, and it might be a bit too harsh a word–let’s call it “load management” for Brockers over the final three games.