3 Detroit Lions players who should be benched after Week 12 loss to the Packers

3. DE Charles Harris

To be entirely fair (or unfair?) to Harris, he has practically already been benched. Since being a healthy scratch in Week 7, he has played 10, 18, 13 and 13 defensive snaps respectively in the last four games. Over that span, as in the entirety of the four games, he has three total tackles, no tackles for loss, no sacks and no quarterback hits.

With the attention Aidan Hutchinson gets on one side, the Lions' other edge rushers are gettting and should be benefitting from plenty of 1-on-1 matchups. Coverage issues have not helped the Lions get home on the pass rush, and that is a mix of on-field struggles and Aaron Glenn's lack of good scheming to marry pressure concepts and coverage.

By comparison Julian Okwara, who was a healthy scratch on Thanksgiving and started the season on IR, has more sacks than Harris (2.0 to 1.5) in four fewer games and far fewer snaps (78 to 281). The balance there still seems wrong, even as Harris has played way less than he did early in the season.

Harris' breakthrough in his first season as a Lion (7.5 sacks in 2021) has proven to be a fluke for a guy who was a first-round bust beforehand. He is definitely in his final stretch as a Lion, before he tries to keep his career going elsewhere, and maybe he should be on the sideline as a healthy scratch a few more times over the final six games. Bruce Irvin and/or Julian Okwara should take his snaps.