Over their last three games, one before the bye and two since, the Detroit Lions are allowing just 17.7 points per game. Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has clearly found something that works, and the heat on his seat has cooled completely.
In concert with that, cornerback D.J. Reed has performed markedly better lately. Since being torched by the Carolina Panthers on a prime time stage in Week 4 to cap a rough start to the season, he is Pro Football Focus' No.1-graded cornerback with the No. 1 coverage grade (91.0) at the position from Week 5-8.
Over those three games, per PFF, Reed has allowed six catches for 41 yards on 14 targets in his coverage. While he's the Lions' No. 1 cornerback, by paycheck and projected role, a shift to more man coverage and moving him off the opponent's top wide receiver a good bit has yielded better results.
D.J. Reed's resurgence doesn't take Lions out of the trade market for a CB
While Reed's resurgence is a great thing, as Lions' general manager Brad Holmes and plenty of others have said, "you can never have too many corners."
Ennis Rakestraw has performed well, but he played just one snap against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday as he battles an ankle injury. Rock-Ya Sin is clearly only a backup-caliber cornerback, and Roger McCreary has struggled more than is ideal.
Rookie Keith Abney could fit into the cornerback equation somewhere once Kerby Joseph is back, but a Brian Branch-esque hybrid role would seem to suit him well.
Special teams ace Khalil Dorsey has played noticeably more defensive snaps over the last two games, and he has been mostly fine. Ideally he would not be a prominent part of the cornerback rotation though, as opponents will put a bullseye on him if at all possible. The Vikings' 51-yard deep ball to Jordan Addison in the fourth quarter on Sunday is a prime example, and it led to a touchdown that gave Minnesota the lead.
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The Lions need another proven, starting-caliber cornerback. Someone like Riq Woolen, Charvarius Ward or Sauce Gardner makes sense to try to bring in before the trade deadline, but that is not the full list of potential options. Reed is also a bit injury-prone (he suffered a hip injury during the game against the Vikings), and things are thin behind him if he were to miss time.
Holmes' prior assertion about liking the Lions' cornerback room never passed a logical smell test, and it absolutely should not be the sentiment anymore. Reed's turnaround has been needed, but it can't lead to trade deadline complacency when it comes to adding a proven cornerback.
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