Looking at some basic stats, you’d think the Detroit Lions wouldn’t need to add too much pass rush this offseason. They finished 2025 fifth in sacks, ninth in quarterback hits, and sixth in pressures (per NFL Pro). However, anyone who watched the actual games knows that Detroit took far too long to get to the quarterback, and that’s supported by the advanced stats. Per NFL Pro, Detroit’s average time to pressure of 2.86 seconds ranked third-worst in the league.
So this offseason, the Lions sought to fix that problem. While they let Al-Quadin Muhammad and his 11 sacks (and average of 3.03 time to pressure) last season walk in free agency, they added DJ Wonnum—who has produced 8.0 sacks on two different occasions. Then they added Derrick Moore with their second-round pick, and followed it up with two interior pass rushing threats from the middle—Skyler Gill-Howard in the sixth round, Tyre West in the seventh. They also signed oft-injured—but former first-round pick—Payton Turner.
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“We certainly wanted to see if we can add a little bit of juice in there on the perimeter, but also in the middle,” Campbell said last week.
It’s a small departure from this team’s bread and butter: stopping the run. For the first five years of this regime, it has been all about clogging the middle of the defense on early downs and earning the right to rush the passer on later downs. And while that strategy has worked in getting teams into unfavorable down and distances, the Lions have generally struggled to get to the quarterback when given the chance.
Detroit may have made active moves to juice up the pass rush when it comes to personnel, but they aren’t abandoning their philosophies entirely. Guys like Gill-Howard and West—whose pass rush games are far ahead of their run stuffing abilities—they’ll need to become more well-rounded players before the Lions will trust them on the field. Being a liability in the run game is not an option.
“If you’re going to add a couple of these guys that maybe their strength is a little more in the rush game, then they’ve got to be able to hold up in the run game or we can’t get them to the game,” Campbell said. “They have to be able to hold on and do some of those things. So, your niche has got to be your niche and the other stuff, you’ve got to be able to show you can hold your own, at least. You don’t have to be dominant.”
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But it appears Detroit is also admitting their priorities need a little shake-up or tilting of the scales. One of the main techniques the Lions have used in the past is a heavy focus on stopping the run pre-snap, then quickly transitioning mid-play to focus on pass rush, when necessary. Campbell said they will continue to work on techniques to make that transition quicker, like stemming (pre-snap shifting).
“I think that (pass rush) is a priority, but it’s still a priority when we talk about first, second down, stopping the run and then the transition to it,” Campbell said. “Whether that’s movement, you’re stemming into the call at the snap or you’re trying to do some of these things just to gain a step or get an edge. So, you can still stop the run, but maybe you can get up field a little bit quicker, get in the quarterback space.”
While the Lions haven’t made a Myles Garrett type of move that grabs all of the spring headlines, it appears they were open to change when it comes to their defense. We’ll see if a slight philosophical shift, a few new faces, and—don’t forget—Aidan Hutchinson can develop a more consistent, quicker pass rush in Detroit.
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