Off-ball linebacker is an area where the Detroit Lions tend to feel better about their team than fans or national pundits do. It’s a position group the Brad Holmes regime has not emphasized in the draft or prominently in free agency in his two-plus years on the job.
Detroit runs a base 4-2-5 defense and sticks with two LBs on the field the vast majority of the time. The Lions ran more offensive plays with a sixth offensive lineman on the field than they did defensive snaps with more than two off-ball LBs in both 2021 and 2022.
