The one and only concern about new Lions cornerback D.J. Reed is kind of a big one
The Detroit Lions made one heck of a move on the first day of free agency when they lost Carlton Davis to the New England Patriots and less than 30 minutes later replaced him with former New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed at about $20 million less. Reed is one of the top corners in […]
The Detroit Lions made one heck of a move on the first day of free agency when they lost Carlton Davis to the New England Patriots and less than 30 minutes later replaced him with former New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed at about $20 million less.
Reed is one of the top corners in this year's free agency and this was the best route the Lions could go. ESPN's Mina Kimes called the move a home run signing and said it was one of her favorite moves of free agency so far. There were plenty of other rave reviews too.
But there is one problem with Reed and it's kind of a big one. He seems to be a magnet for penalties. Not just a little bit of penalties, but a lot. He had 17 of them in three seasons with the Jets, including 9 last season. Those nine penalties cost the Jets 147 yards too.
So what kind of penalties is Reed getting called for? Looks like he's a handsy guy. He had four defensive holding calls and four defensive pass interference calls. He also had one illegal contact call. It's the DPIs that you really worry about because those can often be spot fouls and can change games.
The Lions had a real penalty problem in the secondary last year with 34 of their 107 penalties coming against defensive backs. Rookie Terrion Arnold really struggled with it in the early going, but was able to correct it as the season went on. Brian Branch got flagged and fined seemingly every week. Carlton Davis got flagged seven times.
It's not super crazy at the end of the day, but when you get some of these smaller corners, they tend to be scrappy. Most of the time that is a good thing, but sometimes the overaggressiveness can lead to laundry on the field. It's still a very good signing for Detroit, just have to watch out for the flags.
Brad Holmes and the Lions have lost one of their highly drafted players for the first time in his tenure in Detroit, it’s a sign of things to come in the future
This felt like you could go back and forth on all offseason. On one hand Ifeatu Melifonwu had such and amazing end to the 2023 season for the Detroit Lions. His interception to seal the Lions first NFC North title will forever be remembered. On the other hand, he has struggled with injuries and was […]
