Detroit Lions sign veteran defensive lineman Christian Covington

The Detroit Lions have added a piece to their defensive line, agreeing to a deal with veteran Christian Covington.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Detroit Lions announced they have signed defensive lineman Christian Covington. Terms have not been disclosed.

Covington is entering his ninth NFL season, with 102 games played and 32 starts for four teams (Houston Texans, Dallas Cowboys, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers) since coming into the league in 2015 . He spent the last two seasons with the Chargers, and he played in 16 games in 2021 while setting a career-high with 52 tackles. A torn pectoral ended his 2022 season after four games played.

Covington’s career-high for games started came with the Bengals in 2020–14. Throughout his career has been a rotational piece, playing no more than a 53 percent snap share in games he suited up for in any season.

The Denver Broncos signed Covington in 2020, then traded him to the Bengals before he played a game for them. So the Lions are technically his sixth team.

Covington is best-used on the interior, at 6-foot-2 and 300 pounds, with limited pass rush production in his career (9.5 sacks, 21 quarterback hits). But he can play across the defensive line.

Detroit Lions add experience to defensive line with Christian Covington

Any concern about Covington’s recovery from that torn pec was probably put to rest with this video he posted in March.

Apart from his lackluster play and being a healthy scratch almost every game after the bye week last year, the release of Michael Brockers left an experience void on the Lions’ defensive line. In terms of how Covington enters the mix for the Lions this year, Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire harkened back to a pre-draft comp he had for a recent Lions’ draft pick.

"Covington was my player comp for Levi Onwuzurike back in the ’21 draft. Now he might be replacing him in Detroit…"

Covington will come in and compete for a spot on the Lions interior defensive line, behind Alim McNeill and Isiah Buggs, with third-round pick Brodric Martin, Benito Jones and the aforementioned Onwuzurike (assuming Onwuzurike is healthy).