4 Carolina Panthers the Detroit Lions should have interest in trading for

4. CB C.J. Henderson

A former top-10 pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2020, Henderson was traded to the Panthers early last season. After playing less than half of the defensive snaps in his 12 games for Carolina last season, he is at a 55 percent snap rate through five games this season.

Carolina also changed defensive coordinators, but it’s unclear what that will mean for Henderson–good or bad. He has struggled, but he’s still young.

The Lions need to find players in the secondary, wherever they can be found and possibly developed. A Day 3 draft pick (conditional?) to take a flier on Henderson would not be a bad idea.

3. DE Yetur Gross-Matos

Gross-Matos was an early second-round pick (38th overall) out of Penn State in 2020, and he has six sacks in 31 career games to this point. Looking beyond sacks, he has just 20 quarterback pressures (according to Pro Football Reference) and eight tackles for loss in his career.

This season, after playing 48 and 38 percent of the snaps in games he played in his first two seasons, it’s not a question of low playing time for Gross-Matos (68 percent snap share through five games). He’s simply not adding as much to the equation as hoped.

It’s difficult to believe what Gross-Matos showed in his final two seasons as Penn State (17 total sacks and 34.5 combined tackles for loss) has just gone away. He is coming off a notable game against the 49ers in Week 5 (a blocked field goal and two fumble recoveries) though, so maybe something is starting to click.

Before the Panthers realize they might be able to finally coax Gross-Matos’ potential out of him, the Lions should offer a Day 2 or Day 3 draft pick to take a chance on him.