The Detroit Lions defensive coaches provided some very important news about the depth chart in the secondary.
The Detroit Lions’ secondary made some significant strides last year, but they are entering 2025 with a couple of significant questions. For one, Detroit doesn’t have clear, defined depth behind their two All-Pro-caliber safety. Additionally, the role of second-year cornerback Ennis Rakestraw—who missed most of his rookie season with injury—was only up for speculation.
During Thursday’s slew of press conferences with Lions defensive coaches, we got significant clarity on both issues.
Starting with Rakestraw, defensive backs coach Deshea Townsend made it crystal clear that they are focusing the 2024 second-round pick on playing on the outside.
“Right now, we’re going to let him focus on outside, let him go compete out there,” Townsend said. “Amik (Robertson) has done a really good job (at nickel). We have Avonte (Maddox), who is another positional flex type of person. I think that will help him, as well.”
This comes as a mild surprise. At one point last season, Rakestraw was actually in line to start a game at nickel before he suffered an injury at pre-game warmups. That said, Rakestraw saw plenty of time on the outside during training camp, as well, and was viewed as a moveable chess piece.
He’ll likely continue to carry that versatility, but Detroit clearly has more immediate faith in Amik Robertson, who played the nickel for the majority of the season—until injuries forced him to move to the outside.
That means, in all likelihood, Rakestraw will enter the season in a reserve role behind free agent signing D.J. Reed and last year’s first-round pick Terrion Arnold. Still, Townsend is excited about Rakestraw’s potential in Year 2.
“The thing I do like about how he came back is just his mindset,” Townsend said. “You can tell he understood what went wrong last year. And there are some things you can’t control, like injuries. For him, it’s now just how can I be stronger? What did I do last year, like being a rookie training for the combine and doing all that? Now, I get to really focus on myself and my craft a little bit more, not having to worry about those things. He understands.”
As for the safety position, it appears veteran free agent signing Maddox will serve a role much like Brian Branch did—mixing time between the slot and safety. When defensive backs coach Jim O’Neil was asked about the lack of depth at safety after losing Ifeatu Melifonwu in free agency, Maddox was the first person he mentioned.
“We obviously lost Iffy, and we gained Avonte Maddox,” O’Neil said. “Avonte will be an inside player, similar to what he’s done his whole career, as far as a nickel/safety body. That’s what he’s done at Philly for the years (he was there).”
Maddox did indeed serve multiple roles for the Eagles last year. After getting bumped out of the starting nickel position by rookie Cooper DeJean, Maddox played situationally at both safety spots. In fact, way back in 2018, when he was drafted by the Eagles in the fourth round, Maddox started mostly at safety before eventually moving to nickel—the position he made his home for the majority of his seven-year career. Now it appears Maddox will back up both the nickel and the safety positions.
As for the rest of the safety depth, O’Neil admitted it’s a heated competition between five young players: rookies Dan Jackson and Ian Kennelly, second-year safeties Morice Norice and Loren Strickland, and Jaguars 2023 sixth-round pick Erick Hallett.
“We’ve got five young, unproven, hungry guys. There’s one spot. Go earn it,” O’Neil said. “It’s exciting to see those guys compete. And, obviously, the OTAs and the training camp practices. And they’ll get the bulk of the work throughout the four preseason games. We’re waiting on one of them to pop. Hopefully, two or three of them pop, and we end up in a great situation.”
O’Neil spoke glowingly of both Lions rookies, first noting that Kennelly—from Grand Valley State—caught the entire team’s eye during their local pro day.
“He came to local day, and he crushed it. Not just the DB coaches observed it, (but special teams coordinator Dave) Fipp ended up gravitating over; Dan ended up gravitating over. It’s like, ‘Who is this kid?’” O’Neil said.
“And then we went back, and we watched some of the tape, and some of the stuff we saw at the local day was showing up: Physical, could run, could obviously track the ball. So, we’ve been impressed with him.
He’s in a little bit of a blender right now, mentally, because of how much defense we’ve thrown at him and what he’s used to at Grand Valley. But when we’re in the position drills, you can see the athletic ability (and) you can see him track a ball. He’s a great developmental player right now that I’m hoping develops into a damn good player for us.”
As for Jackson, O’Neil was drawn to the Georgia safety after hearing his story of resilience firsthand via a Zoom meeting and a face-to-face at the NFL Combine. Going from a walk-on to a starter convinced O’Neil he had the necessary grit mentality, but the Lions’ defensive backs coach also praised Jackson’s football intelligence.
“He was kind of the alpha in the back seven that did most of the communication. Very, very football smart,” O’Neil said. “Got to make sure he’s not thinking too much, because, again, we’ve thrown a lot at him, and we’ve done that on purpose to kind of force some of these guys to sink or swim. But I’ve liked what he’s shown out there so far in the week that we’ve had him.”
So now we have a pretty good idea of what the Lions’ secondary depth chart looks like going into training camp. But it’s important to remember that the Lions are going to give the job to the players that earn it, and nothing is set in stone in May.
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