As the Detroit Lions' minicamp gets underway, one of the more intriguing storylines will be how the pass rush alongside Aidan Hutchinson is developing with the multitude of new additions.
Among those additions is EDGE Payton Turner, a former first-round pick from the New Orleans Saints, who has struggled to pan out amid various injury troubles. Sound familiar? It was a similar story for Marcus Davenport, a former Saints first-rounder who hardly played in his two seasons with the Lions. That may give some fans pause, with pass rush still being a concern and Turner replacing Davenport for the second time in his career.
But after missing all of last season, his only season with the Dallas Cowboys, with a rib injury, Turner joins the Lions in hopes of reigniting his career and providing an unexpected answer to the team's pass-rushing woes.
One thing that's in Turner's favor was that his last season rib injury came after he played 16 games in 2024, which is more games in a season than Davenport ever managed in his career thus far. Although Turner didn't start, he did amass 335 defensive snaps along with an additional 231 on special teams, which combined for well above Davenport's 370 total snaps in his two seasons with the Lions.
In that 2024 season, Turner picked up 2.0 of his 5.0 career sacks, along with all four of his career pass deflections and all two of his forced fumbles. Turner also added a career-high 21 tackles, while tying his career high of three QB hits.
Before his rib injury last year, he was gaining momentum toward looking like the first-rounder he was picked to be, and his height definitely helped with that. Turner measures up to the same 6'6" as Davenport, bringing length to the pass rush rotation. He's just a hair shorter than Hutchinson (6'7"), but taller than other new additions in veteran D.J. Wonnum (6'5") as well as rookies Derrick Moore (6'3") and Tyre West (6'3").
The added height is a part of the Lions' grand design for the pass rush, as head coach Dan Campbell noted in his presser last Thursday, saying, "We got some length now," adding, "We have got some size and length and athletic ability on the perimeter.”
Turner isn't expected to be EDGE2, at least not right out of the gate, but as the second-tallest Lion on the pass rush, Turner can be a valuable asset in the pass rush rotation.
Early reviews of Turner have been positive
Campbell put it best when he called OTAs a "pajama party." No one is winning or losing jobs at this point in the calendar year. That doesn't mean players can't make a positive impression; it'll just take until training camp to confirm whether or not those encouraging signs are real or a mirage.
So far, so good for Turner. Austen Bundy of FanSided labeled Turner as the Lions' "rising star" during OTAs, saying to "not be surprised if Turner has a resurgent year as he returns to full health and is developed under Campbell and Co."
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Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard has already spoken positively about Turner. Meanwhile, Campbell added onto that positivity during his presser, with the caveat that it's not yet training camp.
"I know this, there’s been nothing that (Turner's) done that has been a disappointment to us through all of spring since we started this, the offseason program. The meetings have been good. The field work has been good. He’s moving around well. His care factor is up there, seems like he is a pretty smart guy, so you know we’re intrigued. That’s also why we brought him in, you know, we liked him when he was coming out as a pup a long time ago, so we’ll see. We'll see."
We still have a ways to go before the real meat and potatoes of this lead up to the new season, but Turner will be one of the new Lions worth keeping an eye on as minicamp and training camp get underway.
Turner may not have been the most exciting pass rush acquisition for the Lions, but the NFL is unpredictable. Few can say they saw Al-Quadin Muhammad's 11.0 sacks last season coming. As long as Hutchinson is lining up, another similar breakout season could happen, and who's to say it can't be Turner this time?
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