Better cornerback play 'can do wonders' for Detroit Lions linebackers

Allen Park — We’re still a few months away from knowing whether the Detroit Lions’ cornerback rebuild 2.0 will work, but the team has dedicated enough resources to the position that it could reasonably be seen as a position of strength at some point in the next year or two.

At the top of the list of those who stand to gain from the success of this venture is the Lions’ linebacker room.

Linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said at the end of OTAs and minicamp that having cornerbacks who can handle one-on-one coverage “can do wonders” for his position group.

“You don’t look back,” Sheppard said. “And I’m not saying that’s what was happening, but that’s what it was. People were trying to overcompensate for what they thought were better places to help instead of doing their jobs, and that bit a lot of people in the butt last year.”

In the 2023 offseason, the Lions signed Cam Sutton from Pittsburgh and Emmanuel Moseley, who was recovering from a torn ACL he suffered with the San Francisco 49ers the previous year. Moseley suffered a freak injury on the second play of his Detroit debut while Sutton simply struggled to hold up against the league’s top receivers.

Sutton returned to Pittsburgh after the Lions released him this offseason following an alleged domestic violence incident in Florida, while Moseley’s injury leaves him in a nearly identical position to last season.

The Lions, meanwhile, added veteran Super Bowl winner Carlton Davis III from Tampa Bay and drafted Terrion Arnold (Alabama) and Ennis Rakestraw Jr. (Missouri) with their first two picks in April.

But while additions via trade, free agency and the draft have given the Lions’ defensive line and secondary plenty of intrigue, the continuity of Detroit’s linebacking room could be its superpower in 2024. It was a good group last season that saw significant improvement from nearly every individual, from Alex Anzalone to Jalen Reeves-Maybin.

“(The secondary) says they’ve never been in a linebacker room where the average height is 6’3”, 6’6”, and these guys are getting into those intermediate throwing windows,” Sheppard said.

“Because in turn, just like they help us from deep-to-short, we help them from short-to-down to isolate those intermediate throwing lanes, so now they can stay high on the shoulder, know the leverage they’re playing and things like that, knowing that those guys are going to be in those windows underneath.”

One thing is for sure about the rookies at cornerback: They don’t lack confidence. Sheppard sees that confidence spilling over to the rest of the defense.

“Just getting off the bus knowing you’ve got guys and it’s also a confidence thing. Like being on that practice field, hearing cornerbacks talking nonsense and saying, ‘I’ve got this guy and you can’t do anything about it.’ I haven’t been there since I’ve been here and I’ve rarely been there in the league. It’s rare to see guys like that, walking, talking and acting with that type of confidence, and we have a lot of them right now.

“So it’s always a wonderful thing, for sure.”

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