Detroit Lions Mailbag: Could the Lions look to add a former Pro Bowler who just became available to the mix ahead of the playoffs?
Here we go Detroit Lions fans. It's the final week of the 2024 regular season and our final mailbag of that season too. We got a good handful of questions this week. Let's take a look at what we got: Yannick Ngakoue, anything left in the tank and do the Lions bring him in?— ProudDetroiter […]
Here we go Detroit Lions fans. It's the final week of the 2024 regular season and our final mailbag of that season too. We got a good handful of questions this week. Let's take a look at what we got:
Yannick Ngakoue, anything left in the tank and do the Lions bring him in?
— ProudDetroiter (@detroitstrong.bsky.social) January 1, 2025 at 12:46 PM
The Lions do need some pass rush help and you see a guy in Ngakoue that had at least eight sacks in eight of his 10 seasons and you think, "Well that's a guy the Lions need."
Then you see that he's played for seven different teams in the last six years and two different teams this season and you start to wonder what is wrong with him. We don't know the answer, but it's something. There has to be a reason no team brings him back. Plus at this point, he can't even get the eight sacks. Stay far away from this one.
I'm going with a hearty A+. I know that's the highest of the high, but we've seen improvement in a lot of guys on this line and they have been performing well when healthy. Even the replacement guys are playing better than they normally would. A very good hire by the Lions.
What James is referring to here is that each playoff team gets 10 injured reserve returns during the season. The Lions have used five of those returns.
Because Melifonwu was initially on IR for a leg injury and then came back and hurt his hand during his 21-day return clock, the Lions had to activate him and then put him back on IR so they wouldn't lose him for the season. Then they activated him again. So yes, he counts for two activations. The Lions have five left and it's looking like Anzalone and Raymond could be taking two more spots soon.
I'm not sure there is one. You just got to hope for the best with Jefferson. The best thing you can really do is have a safety over top for help and try to dissuade Sam Darnold from passing his direction. The Lions can really make a difference in this game if they can get pressure and get to Darnold.
Emanuel moseley. please discuss
— worx.bsky.social (@worx.bsky.social) January 1, 2025 at 12:13 PM
There's sadly not a lot to discuss. He had two torn ACLs and a torn pectoral muscle. Now he has an illness. It's just not working out for him and it sucks to see because he did work hard to make the comeback.
We can only report what we know on this and what we know is that he's played 29 special teams snaps this year and has been a healthy scratch beyond that. That kind of tells you all you need to know about his ability right now.
Charles Harris (recently waived by the Eagles) or Chris Wormley (on Ravens PS)? Possible help with pass rush?
— Damien Smith (@indysmith.bsky.social) January 1, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Two interesting options. You could see the possibility of Charles Harris being on the practice squad to close out the year, but ultimately I don't see him coming back because things didn't work out that well last time.
As far as Wormley goes, he could be a lot like Tyson Alualu was last year, but with the team bringing so many guys back from IR, there just might not be room to poach anyone at this point.
Do you think we’ll see more jumbo packages with mahogany? I love what he did when he was on the field.
— King Fontes (@kingfontes.bsky.social) January 1, 2025 at 7:15 PM
Mahogany clearly impressed the Lions' coaching staff in his start against the Bears because now the Lions are looking to get him into games in different ways like the jumbo package they ran against the 49ers. I would not at all be shocked to see that become the norm going forward.
Numbers show how big of an impact Alex Anzalone’s potential return could make for the Lions on Sunday
The Detroit Lions defense has been struggling as of late. There's no way around it. The injuries are causing a problem. Take a look at this graph that FTTN's Aaron Schatz made showing the Lions' defenses decline in recent weeks. Aidan Hutchinson was definitely a hard shot for the team to take since he was […]
