Marcus Davenport‘s hope a value-reestablishing season in Minnesota did not work out, with an injury impeding the former first-round pick. He will still land another shot with a familiar coaching presence.
The ex-Saint will rejoin Aaron Glenn in Detroit, per NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo. Glenn was on the Saints’ staff when the team drafted Davenport, though he coached New Orleans’ defensive backs. Nevertheless, Davenport will join fellow ex-Saint defender Alex Anzalone under Glenn in 2024.
Detroit is giving Davenport half of what he made last season in base value, as Rapoport notes this deal is worth $6.5MM. The contract can max out at $10.5MM.
The Vikings gave Davenport a one-year, $13MM deal, setting him up on a high-end “prove it” deal to work alongside Danielle Hunter. This preceded a Za’Darius Smith trade, but the Vikings did not benefit from the move. Davenport posted two sacks and suffered an ankle injury that became a season-ending malady. Davenport, 27, underwent surgery to repair his high ankle sprain and ended up playing only four games in 2023.
Davenport displayed quality rush capabilities in New Orleans, but he could not deliver such form consistently. He needed to settle for a “prove it” deal due to totaling just a half-sack in 15 Saints games in 2022. The ex-Cameron Jordan sidekick did total 15 sacks and 32 QB hits between the 2019 and ’21 seasons, keeping teams interested in his potential.
Despite Aidan Hutchinson leading the NFL in pressures and mounting a sack charge late in the season, the Lions did not have much around him. Their Okwara-based efforts did not pan out in recent years. Hutchinson finished with 11.5 sacks last season; no other Lions edge defender notched more than two. It should not be expected Davenport will be all the Lions do to staff this job, but the six-year veteran is the first piece of the puzzle.
Meh. So much for using their cap space to put themselves over.
No loss to MN. At ALL
Minnesota sucks & they are worse off now! The guy is productive when healthy so 6.5 million for a guy Minnesota paid double last year, is worth it if he’s healthy! Better than Okwara!
Lol….waste of a roster spot. his last name is where he’d rather be than on the field.
There goes our hopes for Hunter. This is what Holmes does every year. 1 year deals with injury prone guys.
There’s a report earlier in the day he’s going to SF
They signed Leonard Floyd. So I’m thinking Hunter is still available.
Seriously I hadn’t heard that.I’m not surprised though.Detroit would never sign a free agent to a deal that Hunter would be asking for anyways.Holmes shops in the garbage bin of free agents.lol
I like the deal for depth.
Holmes playing the smartest man in the league card.
Don’t underestimate BH.. this move will likely turn out as one of the best signings of this off season
Leonard Floyd got 10M/yr and BH is paying this potato chip 6.5M? He will play 8 games and get 2 sacks.
Hahaha – The Lions signing another Free Agent coming off of an IR stint. That practice is going to get as old as going for it on 4th down instead of putting points on the board.
Interesting how quickly people rip on Brad Holmes! Anzalone & CJBJ were solid FA signings, Mosley had bad luck or he could have been a good signing & now they signed him for peanuts! It’s one day into Free Agency for PETE SAKE!
You armchair GMs are hilarious
Dude just won GM/Executive of the Year.
I think he a) is smarter and better at this stuff than any of you and b) deserves the benefit of the doubt
Afterall the exact same ppl whining about his Fa moves are the ppl that were bemoaning his last draft class the day after.