“Sabotage” is a strong and negative word, unless, of course, it’s in the context of a Beastie Boys song. But, we’re not talking about the Beastie Boys here. We’re discussing the Detroit Lions and the team’s upcoming 2025-26 season.
The Detroit Lions are looking fairly solid heading into the new season, but there are certainly some question marks for the team. Mainly, they have an entirely new coaching staff, so it will likely take some time for quarterback Jared Goff and the crew to get used to their new leaders. Hopefully there aren’t too many growing pains, but one can never be sure.
The Lions have done some musical chairs during the offseason, as have most teams in the NFL, and brought in some players while parting with others. Now, it’s possible that one addition to the team could be a problem for the Lions in the long run. Hopefully that’s not the case, but there is a little alarm sounding about this particular player.
Fresh Lions Addition Could Be a Problem
The Detroit Lions went into the offseason with some troubling issues, including losing Frank Ragnow to retirement and both offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to new gigs. But, they’ve also had some good news, in that Aidan Hutchinson should be back from his season-ending injury last season, and that will be a huge boost to the team’s defense.
During the offseason, the Lions also inked former New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed to a three-year, $48 million contract during free agency. But, in a piece published by Joe Summers on Sunday, July 6, for Detroit Rock City, he says that “Reed may accidentally wind up sabotaging the team from within.”
Before you go nuts with that assertion, let Summers explain. “This isn’t so much an indictment of Reed, who ranked 42nd out of 222 qualified cornerbacks at Pro Football Focus last season,” he notes. “Rather, it’s a cautionary tale about the nature of the position and how quickly primes can fade.”