The Lions have won two games without Aidan Hutchinson, the most recent a dismantling of the Titans. Detroit holds the NFC’s best record and the tiebreaker over Minnesota by virtue of a narrow Week 7 win, but the team may well need another piece to help cover for losing Hutchinson, who went down with a broken leg while holding the NFL’s sack lead.
Detroit has notched five quarterback hits in each of its past two wins, turning four from the Minnesota matchup into sacks. The Lions notched one sack against the Titans. The team, however, is playing without Hutchinson and the player added to be his primary sidekick. Marcus Davenport, who came over after missing most of last season with the Vikings, is out for the year as well due to an elbow injury.
Considering the problems the Lions have run into finding an EDGE complement to Hutchinson since drafting the standout player in 2022, it would make sense for the team to bring in help before the Nov. 5 trade deadline. Dan Campbell offered a hint that will be coming. Acknowledging the deadline as a viable tool to address this prospective concern, the fourth-year Lions HC said (via the Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett) a move could be imminent when asked about a potential transaction.
A weekend report named the Lions as a team that would love to acquire defensive help, and after Za’Darius Smith made interesting comments about a Detroit fit, the NFC North leaders are believed to be interested in the ex-NFC North staple-turned-Browns trade chip. The Jets reached a resolution with Haason Reddick, whom the Lions checked in on. It is worth wondering, however, if New York — which faces Houston on Thursday — could revisit trade talks involving a player whose holdout produced a seven-game absence. The Jets sit 2-6 before that Texans matchup and may find themselves, even after the Davante Adams trade, in a strange position as a potential seller.
The Lions used journeyman Al-Quadin Muhammad as an EDGE starter Sunday. No one besides Hutchinson has more than seven QB hits on their roster, and no non-Hutchinson performer has produced more than 2.5 sacks. Among pure Lions edge rushers, no one has collected more than one sack. It would seem a move will happen, and given the Lions’ surge over the past two seasons, how they go about filling this need will be one of the trade deadline’s top subplots.
This is something the Lions definitely need to do. I have to believe everyone in the organization from Sheila on down knows this and with the team being a bona fide Super Bowl contender they will make it happen. This is definitely not the time to be worried about the future as the future is NOW! Go Lions!!!!!
Max Crosby for a 1st and something else? Not sure what it will take beyond the 1st but that seems like an obvious fit to me.