The Detroit Lions defense has struggled through the first two weeks of the 2026 NFL season, and that’s been well-documented. But before turning the page to Detroit’s Week 3 matchup against the New York Jets, it’s worth highlighting the Lions’ defensive players who are actually playing well. Aidan Hutchinson is the easy answer with 3 sacks already. He’s exactly the player everyone knew he was coming into the season. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. These four names, though, deserve more of the conversation.

Tyleik Williams is quietly one of the best defenders on the team

We’re not talking nearly enough about how good Tyleik Williams has been playing. If you go over to Pro Football Focus and click on the defensive section, Williams is the second-highest-graded defensive player who’s played at least 80 snaps. Malcolm Rodriguez is technically graded higher, but he’s only played 35 snaps. Williams has played 82 and carries an 81.3 grade right now. He’s been killing it on the run defense side, but the better thing is that he’s been killing it as a pass rusher.

I know this drives some Lions fans crazy because there’s a section of the fanbase that thinks pass rush is sacks and nothing else. That’s just not true. Williams has 4 pressures this year, and you might think that’s not a whole lot. It’s a good deal. He doesn’t have a sack yet, and that’s fine. But go watch the New Orleans Saints overtime 2-point conversion attempt. Who ends the game? Who calls game? It’s Tyleik Williams. He makes an unbelievable pressure that forces Tyler Shough into a pump-fake motion where Shough has to pull the ball back, extending the play long enough for the Lions secondary to push the receiver out of bounds. Shough just throws a prayer. Tyleik Williams wins that game for the Lions with that pressure. Rock Ya-Sin might get some credit for a pass breakup, but it’s Williams who wins that game.

I would like to see him play a little more going forward. Alim McNeill has played 149 snaps, and the Lions are giving Skyler Gill-Howard a lot of snaps as well. But I think Williams can handle more. Coming out, the thought was that he’s a nose tackle who’s going to be good at stopping the run. But Brad Holmes and company like to compare him to McNeill, who we know has run-stuffing ability and is also a pretty good pass rusher. I want to see where that develops.

Skyler Gill-Howard already has 71 snaps as a 6th-round rookie

I did not expect for this guy to have 71 snaps already. Coming out of training camp, I thought he’d be a dude by the end of the year, maybe someone with 4 or 5 sacks when it was all said and done. I also thought the Lions would bring him along slowly like they tend to do with rookies, the way they’re doing right now with Derrick Moore and Keith Abney. But Gill-Howard has been thrown right into the fire, and he has handled it.

He’s got 4 pressures, doesn’t have a sack yet, does have a quarterback hit, and could have had an interception against the Bills had there not been a defensive holding call on Ya-Sin. His run defense grade of 61.3 is average, and that’s something he needs to get better at. But as a pass rusher, I think you’re going to see a lot more of him. The Lions have been in situations where they’ve had to defend the pass more than the run, which is why you’ve seen more of Gill-Howard than Williams in certain spots. That doesn’t mean Gill-Howard is replacing Williams. Williams is playing too well for that. But I think Gill-Howard is the better pure pass rusher right now, and his role should keep growing.

Derrick Barnes is balling, and it’s exactly the version of him everyone’s been hoping to see

Derrick Barnes is currently the highest-graded Lion in coverage with an 83.6 grade. He already has an interception off Tyler Shough, a pass breakup, 5 pressures, and 2 sacks through two weeks. Barnes is all over the place right now. You’d like to see a little better run defense from him, but his pass rush is good, the coverage is really good, and the tackling is good. He is just balling.

This is exactly the Derrick Barnes that everybody’s been hoping to see. He may have had a bit of a step back in 2025, but in 2026, Barnes is one of the best defensive players on this team outside of the normal guys like Hutchinson and Jack Campbell. We’re not talking enough about how good he’s been.

D.J. Reed, and yes, this one is going to be controversial

I know Lions fans swear this guy is bad at football. I know they do. Week 1 wasn’t the best game. He went up against Chris Olave, one of the best receivers in the league, and gave up some explosives that overshadowed a lot of the good things he was doing. But against Buffalo, Reed was targeted one time. Go back and watch the film, and there’s a reason. Josh Allen and the Bills just stayed away from him because he had his man covered. They knew who to attack in that game, and it wasn’t D.J. Reed. They went after the safeties, they went after Ya-Sin.

I’m not ready to crown Reed. I’m not ready to say he’s elite. I thought he had one okay game and one pretty good game. Now let’s see what Week 3 looks like against his former team. That makes it interesting. It’s the first time he’s ever gotten to play against the Jets. If he has a good game, then I’m more ready to say he’s the cornerback one that everyone expected when Detroit signed him. I thought he looked really good before his injury last year, and I thought he had a really good training camp this summer.

Those are the four guys I think are doing positive things on defense that we’re not talking enough about. The Lions just need more help in the secondary. D.J. Reed needs more help around him. I don’t think there’s a problem with the front seven. The defensive line looks good, the linebackers look good. Jack Campbell had a bad game against Buffalo, and that’s fair to say. But this team needs help in the secondary, no doubt about it. We’ll see if they actually go and get it.

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