The Detroit Lions desperately needed to add some help to their edge rush group this offseason and general manager Brad Holmes' solution was to sign Marcus Davenport in free agency.
The hope was that Davenport would take some pressure off Aidan Hutchinson, who accounted for a whopping 37.4% of the team's pressures in 2023. In Week 1, Davenport chipped-in big time, securing six pressures and half a sack.
While that was about as ideal a start as the Lions could hope for, things took a troubling turn in the week leading up to their next game, as Davenport not only popped up on the injury report with a groin issue, he wasn't able to practice.
That has led to the Lions listing him as doubtful for Week 2 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which means he is almost certainly going to sit.
Injuries are nothing new for Davenport, which was the biggest concern surrounding him when the Lions brought him in.
Davenport has never played a full slate during his career, and the closest he came was in 2022, when he appeared in 15 contests for the New Orleans Saints.
Marcus Davenport career games missed
2018: 3 games
2019: 3 games
2020: 6 games
2021: 6 games
2022: 2 games
2023: 13 games
Davenport is coming off a season in which he missed 13 games for the Minnesota Vikings. He missed two of Minnesota's first six games with an ankle issue before being placed on injured reserve and missing the remainder of the season.
Now, this is just one game, at least so far, but one game is enough to get worried about with the injury history Davenport has. He can no doubt be a productive pass rusher like we saw in Week 1, but none of that matters if he isn't on the field.
General manager Brad Holmes must explore any and every avenue to add more help, whether that be via free agency, trade, or both. The Lions simply cannot put themselves in a position where they may have to depend on James Houston and Josh Paschal during a season in which they have Super Bowl aspirations.
Trade opportunities will be scarce this early in the season, but Holmes should be keeping his eye on the situation between Haason Reddick and the New York Jets. In free agency, someone like Yannick Ngakoue would be a welcomed addition.
Whatever the Lions do, they simply cannot depend on Davenport to stay healthy. Detroit needs a consistently effective pass-rush if the team is going to deliver on their Super Bowl hopes in 2024.
