Five defensive prospects for the Detroit Lions

Injuries derailed the Detroit Lions season and their defense. That’s well documented. As the Lions enter the off-season, there should be an emphasis for them to spend draft capital on adding pieces to their defense. As of now, the Lions have 17 defensive players scheduled to become free agents.

Certainly, some of those players were practice squad players that got elevated to one-year contracts to fill the spots for the injured players. However, not all of those practice squad players were bad. For example, Al-Quadin Muhammad and Pat O’Connor did enough to earn a chance to compete for a spot on the roster this upcoming summer.

Regardless, it’s always good to have depth on your roster. Specifically, it’s good to have good depth. Does that make sense? So with that, I’d like to look at five defensive prospects from the 2025 Senior Bowl that could be worth adding to the Lions roster in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Texas A&M DL Shemar Turner 

Earlier today, I talked about Turner’s teammate, Shemar Stewart. As I mentioned earlier, I think Stewart will end up being a first-round pick, and with that, I think that means he won’t be available for the Lions when they are on the clock with the 28th overall pick.

Very intrigued with what I’ve seen from Texas A&M 5 Shemar Turner. Has shown good versatility and shows zero size concerns at 6’4″ / 290. Has made 35 starts over last 3 seasons with the Aggies. Plays well laterally vs. reach block on this play. Will compete at the @seniorbowl pic.twitter.com/k528RsZZ2d

— Russell Brown (@RussNFLDraft) January 13, 2025

Despite that, the Lions could use a player such as Turner. He’s a veteran defender as a 35-game starter at Texas A&M and he’s extremely versatile. He’s got the ability to play in multiple alignments and most importantly, his motor is always running hot.

Turner is consistent against the run and is more than capable of rushing the passer. He’s listed at 6’4″ and 290 pounds and he displays good burst and effective first step. As he gets double teamed on run plays, he will look to get skinny and will drop his shoulder trying to split defenders. Meanwhile, he shows no issues when dipping his shoulder and trying to turn the corner as a pass rusher.

Much like his teammate, Shemar Stewart, there’s been limited production for both prospects. For Turner, he’s only recorded 24 tackles for loss and 10 sacks in his career. If he’s able to pile up good days this week in Mobile, he could…