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5 edge rusher options for Detroit Lions as Marcus Davenport insurance

Marcus Davenport carries clear durability concerns, so the Lions could add one of these edge rushers as insurance against that risk.

By Brad Berreman

Todd Rosenberg/GettyImages
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4. Emmanuel Ogbah, Free Agent

Ogbah is experienced and versatile, along with being generally pretty productive (at least 5.5 sacks in four of the last five seasons, reaching the mark over just 246 defensive snaps for the Dolphins last year). He is also more than just a pin-your-ears-back and go pass rusher, which plenty of teams should really like.

Ogbah would look pretty nice as part of the Lions' edge rusher group, and his potential mentorship of James Houston and Josh Paschal could be a nice extra consideration for adding him. Age (entering his age-31 season) makes him a budget-friendly signing, and the Lions should have him on their radar if they have any doubt about Davenport's durability.

Update, July 21: After Shaq Barrett's unexpected retirement, according to Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network, the Dolphins will host Ogbah for a free agent visit on Monday, July 22.

3. Markus Golden, Free Agent

Full disclosure. Golden has become a personal favorite of mine for some reason. With that as a jumping off point....

Golden's sack production has been up-and-down over the course of his career, now nine seasons in. Last season with the Pittsburgh Steelers was a downturn, with four sacks in 16 games over 230 defensive snaps.

But 16 pressures on 117 pass rush snaps (according to Pro Football) is a pretty good pressure rate (13.7 percent), and he had at least 46 pressures in each of the four previous seasons. Among all edge defenders last year, leaving out any snap volume threshold, Golden's overall PFF grade (83.5) was tied for 15th-best and his pass rush grade (77.6) was in the top-30.

Golden is, frankly, a sneaky good pass rusher who easily gets overlooked because of his fluctuation in sack numbers. Sacks can be very random, and they're often not the full picture of how good a pass rusher someone is. Of some note in regard to the Lions: COO Mike Disner was in Arizona Cardinals' organization, albeit not in a personnel or scouting role, when they drafted Golden in 2015.

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