The Detroit Lions went into the 2024 offseason with two big needs on the defensive side of the ball. They addressed both (cornerback and edge rusher) fairly quickly. But given his injury history, it was an immediate question if Marcus Davenport was enough to add to the edge rusher mix around Aidan Hutchinson.
That question lingered as training camp loomed. It was kind of a fluky thing, as Cardinals offensive tackle Paris Johnson chopped down on his arm in Week 3, but Davenport is likely out for the season with an elbow/triceps injury.
So the injury risk prophecy with Davenport was fulfilled. Then of course Hutchinson went down with a broken leg in Week 6, and now third-year man Josh Paschal is banged up again.
Hutchinson was on his way to an indescribably good season. Despite not having played since Week 6, he did not fall out of the top-10 in quarterback pressures among edge rushers (per Pro Football Focus) until Week 13 concluded.
This stat from The 33rd Team is not accurate. but the overall point stands. Hutchinson has accounted for 25 percent of the Lions' sacks this season (7.5 of 30). No other Lion has four sacks this season through Week 13.
Trey Hendrickson has 61% of all of the Bengals sacks 🐅
— The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) November 30, 2024
That is the largest % this year by a WIDE margin
Players with the next highest % of their team's sacks:
Travon Walker: 36%
Maxx Crosby: 33%
Myles Garrett: 31%
T.J. Watt: 30%
Aidan Hutchinson: 30% pic.twitter.com/14TwreTLDd
Biggest regret from 2024 offseason for the Lions is easy
In a look at one move each NFC team wishes it would have made before the 2024 season, Bradley Locker of Pro Football Focus had to have easily landed on "add another edge rusher" for the Lions.
"The Lions could never have foreseen a season-ending injury to Aidan Hutchinson. At the same time, the team’s depth at edge rusher was already thin: Detroit was banking on Marcus Davenport, who had played 500-plus snaps just once in his career, to have a resurgent year. However, he played only 89 snaps before suffering another season-ending injury.
"Detroit is in a decent spot after adding Za’Darius Smith, but the Lions may never have had to make the move if they had drafted someone like Jonah Elliss (14 pressures on 176 pass-rushing snaps) or signed someone like Calais Campbell or Chase Young (39 pressures)."
The Lions clearly prioritized signing Davenport, with reports of his deal coming late on the first day of free agency in March. But his injury history made a follow-up offseason move of some sort to add an edge rusher a practical necessity, and they didn't do it.
A strong performance from the defensive front on Thanksgiving Day doesn't diminish where the Lions fell a little short last offseason, and edge rusher will be a need again when the 2025 offseason comes.