A new season is ahead, and the Detroit Lions have some fresh players on their squad for 2025. There’s always turnover in the NFL, and it can be sad to see some beloved players get traded away, but it’s the nature of the beast.
During the offseason, teams scurry to find the best players to fit their changing needs. Now, Dalton Wasserman at PFF has released a tally with the biggest impact offseason acquisition for each NFL team based on PFF data and research, including for the Lions.
Lions’ Best Offseason Acquisition
Every player on the Detroit Lions’ upcoming roster is important, but when it comes to fresh faces, one stands out. Following three seasons with the New York Jets, cornerback D.J. Reed, a former Cerritos College football player, signed a free agent contract for three years, worth $48 million, with the Detroit Lions.
The funds were well worth it, according to Wasserman’s May 20 feature. He names Reed as the best new player on the Lions’ squad this season. The key metric he’s using is Reed having “at least a 70.0 coverage grade in each of the past six seasons.”
“Detroit has been searching for cornerback stability for several years. Carlton Davis III left for New England in free agency, but D.J. Reed should be able to provide that stability for an otherwise young group,” Wasserman stated in the feature. “Cornerback production is notoriously volatile, but Reed has managed to earn at least a 70.0 coverage grade in each of the past six seasons.”
He added, “In that same span, Detroit has only had three instances where a cornerback played at least 100 snaps and recorded at least a 70.0 coverage grade.” So, Reed sounds quite good to us.
Grading the Detroit Lions in the New Season
In a separate PFF feature, published May 13, Trevor Sikkema grades all of the NFL teams for what they’ve done during the offseason. The team with the best grade in the report is the Chicago Bears, getting an A+. That’s impressive. “Ben Johnson is now at the helm of a team with a much stronger offensive line and plenty of high-ceiling rookies,” Sikkema stated. That hurts for Lions fans. The team at the opposite end is the New Orleans Saints, which received a D-. “New Orleans is in rough shape following a lackluster offseason and Derek Carr’s retirement,” Sikkema stated.
Unfortunately, the Lions received a B- in this grading system. In the piece, Sikkema explains why they got that grade.
“The Lions lost coordinators Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn to head-coaching vacancies, and although there’s nothing they could’ve done about that, it still hurts,” Sikkema noted in the piece. “They basically swapped Carlton Davis III for D.J. Reed, which wasn’t a bad move; Davis earned a 72.1 PFF coverage grade in 2024, while Reed earned a 70.1 mark.”
He added, “The hope is that second-round pick Tate Ratledge can fill in for Kevin Zeitler, who earned an 86.5 PFF overall grade at guard for Detroit last season. The front office didn’t do much at edge rusher and will need Aidan Hutchinson to return to his pre-injury form.”
