2. DL Levi Onwuzurike
Onwuzurike was finally fully healthy this season, and it showed. His traditional surface stats won't blow your hair back (28 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss), but he did have 13 quarterback pressures (per Pro Football Reference) and Pro Football Focus graded him as a top-25 defensive tackle in the league. Per PFF, his 12.5 percent pass-rush win rate was a top-15 mark among defensive tackles.
"Onwuzurike has flashed whenever he’s been healthy over his first four seasons in the league after getting drafted one round ahead of recently extended interior defender Alim McNeill in 2021. The former second-round pick out of Washington is the penetrating three-technique interior pass-rusher that every team covets, with his 12.5% pass-rush win rate in 2024 ranking as a top-15 mark at the position."
-Pro Football Focus
One fully healthy season, as good as it was, won't allow Onwuzurike to completely break the bank in free agency (PFF projects a two-year, $16.5 million deal with $10 million guaranteed). But he has very likely played himself out of the price range the Lions will be in to viably re-sign him, so the Jets (and Glenn) come in as an easy landing spot.
1. CB Carlton Davis
Davis proved himself to be exactly what the Lions needed from a veteran cornerback this season, with his skills (77.0 passer rating allowed, 11 pass breakups) and his swagger. He also finished the season sidelined with a broken jaw, continuing a run of seasons where he has banged up going back to his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has missed at least four games in each of the last four seasons, and durability concerns don't go away as players age.
On Thursday, during his season-ending press conference, Lions general manager Brad Holmes acknowledged Davis' high level of play this season along with there being no contract talks at this early stage.
“I thought we got very good play from him. I will be honest, I thought that he played better this year than he did the year before, than last year in Tampa, and he’ll tell you that too,” Holmes said. "So, no intense action yet, but we’re very aware of it and we’ll go through our normal process."
The Jets obviously have Sauce Gardner in place as their top cornerback. But running mate D.J. Reed is a free agent, and he sounds like he's ready to move on.
"I’m ready to go to free agency, bro. I'm ready to see what's next for me," Reed told Tyler Dunne on The Go Long podcast late in the season.
Davis is easy to see as an ideal replacement for Reed if the Jets have to go that way, almost too easy even, due to his tie to Glenn and familiarity with the incoming defensive scheme. The Lions have to balance Davis' age (28) with how many years and how much money to commit to him, and it won't be easy to do with him likely to have multiple suitors.
Davis may want to stay in Detroit. But the pull of Glenn toward the Jets, assuming the interest is there from them, stands to be very real.