Detroit Lions Mailbag: Are the Lions done adding to the secondary, can the defense be fixed, and what happens when Cade Mays returns?
This week’s Lions mailbag tackles Detroit’s next secondary move, the defensive problems, David Montgomery, Cade Mays, Bishop Fitzgerald, and whether Brad Holmes really needs to make a blockbuster trade.
Another week in the books, another Detroit Lions mailbag. Lions fans had plenty of questions this week, from the secondary to the defensive scheme to the offensive line. Let’s jump right into them.
After adding Bishop Fitzgerald and missing out on Kenny Moore, is Brad Holmes finished adding to the secondary?
This is a yes-or-no answer. No, I don’t think the Lions are done adding to the secondary. Yes, I think they’ll make another move. I don’t know how close to the trade deadline it’s going to be, because what we have learned is that teams are just not trading starting cornerbacks away until you get closer to that deadline and closer to a team knowing what it is.
Right now, I don’t think any team in the league knows who it is. The Lions included. It’s two weeks. Everybody’s still trying to get their bearings. We do this every year. Teams come out and blow out a team we thought was going to be good. A team we thought would be good blows out a team we knew would be bad. Then by the end of the year, everyone has switched places.
I think you get to about Week 5, going into the bye week, and that’s when the Lions are really going to start entertaining a trade. By Week 5, they should absolutely know who they are. If Detroit goes into the bye at 4-1, they’re probably not going to be too keen to trade away a first-round pick for somebody.
To not beat around the bush anymore, I think the Lions will eventually make a trade this year. They’re primed and ready to do it. I don’t know if it’s going to be for a superstar or a lower-level corner with starting ability. I also fully expect them to continue looking at the open market and other teams’ practice squads. They’re not done.
Was it a mistake to trade David Montgomery instead of keeping him to share the load with Jahmyr Gibbs?
I don’t think it was a mistake. I remember early in the 2025 season writing articles about how I thought it was coming to an end soon. I made some videos, got a lot of bad comments, a lot of people calling me a clickbait artist. But everything was pointing to the same conclusion: Jahmyr Gibbs is the bell cow. He’s the guy Detroit wants to move forward with.
Do the Lions need somebody who can support him? Absolutely. That’s why I put out a mock draft on Tuesday and drafted Miami’s Mark Fletcher. A guy who can come in and take care of short yardage, goal-line situations. But I don’t think Detroit is going to back off of Gibbs being its No. 1 running back, and I don’t think it should. That guy’s really good, and I don’t think you necessarily need the two-headed monster anymore. You just need somebody who can support Gibbs.
I think that’s what Pacheco was supposed to be. I don’t think the Lions looked at Pacheco as the new David Montgomery. They looked at him as somebody who could come in, play a support role, get the short yards when needed, and lower the shoulder. Everybody’s where they need to be right now.
How is this defense so bad? There’s too much talent to be dead last in the league.
Here’s the thing, and nobody wants to hear this because it goes against everything you want to feel right now: I don’t think the Lions are the worst defense in the league. When this thing is over, we’re not going to be talking about the worst defense in the league.
The Lions have a good front seven. They are getting pressure. They’re doing everything up front that they need to do. Linebackers are in good shape. The secondary needs help desperately. They need Brian Branch back. I don’t know about Kerby Joseph at this point. I don’t know if that’s ever going to happen again. If you get Brian Branch back, that makes a huge difference right off the bat. And I think you need to grab another cornerback at some point, whether that’s Joey Porter Jr. or some other starting-caliber guy you trade for from a bad team.
Dan Campbell says it all the time: “We just need to clean a few things up.” Lions fans roll their eyes, and I get it, because it feels like lip service a little bit. But it legitimately is that simple. If the Lions simply didn’t blitz as much, or blitzed only in certain situations, and stopped leaving these corners on an island, I think they’d automatically start to be in better shape.
You also just played two really good offenses, one of them being maybe the best offense in the league. I’m not making the call on this team right now. I’m not saying it’s over. Week 5, ask me this question again. I mean it.
When Cade Mays gets activated, will Juice Scruggs move to another position?
I think Juice Scruggs probably goes to the bench. The Lions really want to see what they have in Christian Mahogany and Ben Bartch at left guard. I don’t see them making any sort of change there. Scruggs could be a great off-the-bench guy.
I’ve been saying this all summer: if it gets to the point where Scruggs is really good and you have a center controversy, you kind of have trade bait all of a sudden. Maybe that’s how you get your cornerback. I’m just talking out loud, guys. I’m not saying that’s what’s going to happen. But what is likely to happen is Scruggs goes back to the bench, the Lions start working on making Miles Frazier a tackle, and you’ll have either Bartch or Mahogany at guard with Scruggs as the backup. This is why Detroit got depth on its offensive line for moments like this.
Why is the defense so far behind the rest of the league schematically?
I can’t disagree. This team needs a change. They need to do something different defensively. It’s not working. That was the reason they wanted to add more nickel, but then they dealt with a bunch of nickel injuries during training camp. They weren’t really able to work on it, and it kind of fell apart.
When this type of scheme works, it works really well, and I get why the Lions want to do it. But there is an illusion with the numbers, especially in the passing game, because the Lions have typically been a run-stop team first. They want to stop the run, make you one-dimensional, and then when it works, all teams can do is pass on them. So they need a good secondary to make that work, and right now they’re struggling.
I’m going to be really interested to see what Detroit does in Week 3, because if they trot out the same thing they’ve been doing the first two weeks, they’re going to be in trouble, especially if the Jets decide to load up the 12 and 13 personnel like both the Bills and the Saints did.
Does Bishop Fitzgerald have a chance to play a good amount of snaps in Week 3 or Week 4?
I think Fitzgerald is a good signing, and I’m interested to see what the Lions do with him, but I’m not expecting him to start. Maybe he plays 15 to 20 snaps if he’s active. This was not their big answer of a move. He might have to play out of necessity, but what you’re probably going to see is Chuck Clark, Thomas Harper, and Christian Izien as the safeties, with Fitzgerald working some special teams if he’s active. Maybe by Week 4 they start working him in a little more.
This isn’t the end. This isn’t the move. This is a move in a list of some moves that I think are going to happen.
With all these teams building new stadiums, do you see Detroit doing the same?
I actually wrote an article about this in the summer, and the answer is no. I don’t see the Lions building any new stadium anytime soon. Ford Field is in great shape, and the city of Detroit is just not going to let them get out of there. They’re going to do everything they can to keep what they have together because it’s stimulating the economy to have Ford Field, Fifth Third Park, and Little Caesars Arena right there along with Fox Theatre and the Detroit Opera House. All the venues are kind of in this one spot, and that’s really good for the city. Detroit is going to do whatever it can to make sure it doesn’t lose that.
Detroit Lions News