Tier ranking the top 2025 Detroit Lions defensive players
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Last week, the Pride of Detroit podcast crew tier-ranked the Detroit Lions’ offensive players. It was a revealing task because it highlighted just how strong the team is both in terms of starters and depth. Obviously, there are questions along the offensive line, but the depth chart still looks strong.
This week, we did the same thing with the Lions defense, and needless to say, the overarching conclusions were a bit different. While the Lions have some top-end talent with Aidan Hutchinson and Jack Campbell, injuries and some big pending free agents leave Detroit with more questions than answers. So, for over an hour, the PODcast crew searched for answers, as we categorized the most notable defensive players into seven different categories:
- Solidified All-Pro talent
- Good player, could be elite
- Starter
- Depth, could challent for starter
- Depth, nothing more or less
- Developmental depth
- Time to move on
Here’s our finalized list of the most notable players on defense:
Note: Rock-Ya Sin is not listed, but we discussed him on the podcast and placed him in the “depth, nothing more or less” tier.
The biggest takeaway for me was the lack of “starter” level talent. Obviously, we opted it was time to move on from Alex Anzalone and DJ Reader—two starting-capable talents that just may not fit the Lions’ current financial situation—but beyond that, Detroit needs more high-end talent. On offense, we identified 11 players who were at least “starter” level talent. On defense, that number is just nine. That list includes Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, whose football futures could be highly impacted by injury. It also includes Terrion Arnold and Tyleik Williams, two first-round picks that need to take serious jumps next year.
Check out our entire discussion on each player on this week’s PODcast. We also discuss the Super Bowl and what the Lions need to do to get on the Seattle Seahawks’ level. Check out the show with the Spotify embed below or via your favorite podcast platform by searching “Pride of Detroit.”
You can also catch the video version of the PODcast by heading to our Twitch channel or YouTube page.
