In five seasons under Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell, the Lions have had one top-10 scoring defense. The other four finished in the bottom third of the league, including last season's unit under first-year coordinator Kelvin Sheppard.
A few months into the offseason -- with the draft still to come -- the Lions' defense doesn't look any better. You could argue it looks worse. The departures include Alex Anzalone, who was second on the team in tackles and passes defended, Al-Quadin Muhammad, who was second on the team in sacks, cornerback Amik Robertston, who was first on the team in passes defended, and two key defensive tackles in DJ Reader and Roy Lopez.
The arrivals don't appear to fill the gaps. The most notable addition is edge rusher D.J. Wonnum, known more for stopping the run than rushing the passer. The Lions also acquired a slew of versatile defensive backs on one-year deals with starting safeties Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch rehabbing injures, and re-signed linebacker Malcolm Rodriguez in hopes that he can bounce back from the torn ACL that sidelined him for most of 2025.
The NFL might be an offensive league, but each of the last six teams to play in the Super Bowl had top-five scoring defenses and each of the last eight had top-10 scoring defenses. The Seahawks won it all last season with the No. 1 defense in the league. Detroit's defense held its own last year before a number of injuries in the secondary, but allowed about 28 points per game down the stretch when the Lions went 3-4 and fell out of the playoffs.
So, Holmes was asked Monday at his pre-draft conference if he's confident the Lions have a championship-level defense as currently constructed.
"Yeah," he said. "Those are our hopes. Look, we’re never going to be satisfied in terms of where we’re at. That’s what me and Dan are constantly looking at, man. We’re constantly looking at personnel and how to add more and tweaks and all this stuff. From a schematic standpoint, that’s more of a Dan question, but I know that we’re looking at that all the time. So, whatever you’re saying about how it looks right now, on this day, that may not be the case (later) because we’re always looking to add and evolve it and make it better all the time."
Do Lions view Larry Borom and DJ Wonnum as every-down starters?
Brad Holmes: “You’re talking about guys who have been starters in the NFL … they’re still young. We feel good about both of them, so we don’t feel like we *have* to supplement them.” pic.twitter.com/1K23N5CBpY
— 97.1 The Ticket: (@971theticketxyt) April 13, 2026
Campbell did say at the NFL meetings earlier this month that after doing a deep-dive on last season, the Lions have adjusted the framework of their defense to make it more flexible moving forward. They spent far more time in base defense than any team in the league last season, which seemed to expose them down the stretch when they were without several key pieces in the secondary due to injury.
"There's so many things that you take in, you're like, 'Alright, what do we do well? What do we not? Where do we go from here? This is who we lost. Here's some pieces that we added. What do we need?'" said Campbell. "And so really the way Shep's done it, which I love, is we've given ourselves options."
The gist of it is that the Lions have built out three different packages from which their defense can operate depending on the personnel at their disposal, including whatever additions arrive via the draft: "It's still the same install, but now we got the pieces to put where we want whether that's a nickel, it's an end, it's a big end, it's a linebacker," Campbell said. "So we're kind of flexible here."
That flexibility should help the Lions in the draft, whether they strike early or later on the defensive side of the ball.
