The secondary for the Detroit Lions is going to look much different than it did a year ago. Players such as Jeff Okudah, Amani Oruwariye and DeShon Elliot are now gone and have been replaced with players such as Cameron Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson.
It’s been no secret that the Lions secondary has been somewhat of a liability for a while now. However, they look to be better on paper now with players such as Sutton and Moseley on the roster.
Above is the rest of the cornerback rankings for Detroit. Surprisingly, Will Harris is rated much higher than Jerry Jacobs. For Harris, he did have the best year of his career in 2022 while earning 68% of his defensive snaps at nickel. He earned 10 starts on the season and his PFF grade of 63.7 was 66th best out of 235 corners in the NFL.
As for Jacobs, he logged 8 pass deflections and an interception last season. While his 55.8 overall grade from PFF is lower than Harris’, it’s worth noting that Jacobs tore his ACL in week 14 of the 2021 season. He spent the start of the 2022 season on the reserve/PUP list. There’s potential for Jacobs to take snaps from Harris this season, if healthy.
The fastest cornerback on the roster is a tie between Khalil Dorsey and Jarren Williams. Both players are listed with 93 speed for the video game. That could be noteworthy when you’re running a kick-off or punt and need a speedster to get down and make a tackle.
Speaking of tackling, the hardest hitter in the Lions secondary is rookie defensive back Brian Branch. He earned an 86 rating for hit power. As for the rest of the safeties, the top-rated safety is C.J. Gardner-Johnson with an 84 overall rating.
The next closest to Gardner-Johnson are free safeties Kerby Joseph and Tracy Walker. It shouldn’t be surprising to see Joseph have such a rise up the rankings after posting 82 tackles, 8 pass breakups and four interceptions as a rookie.
For Walker, there’s potential for him to emerge as a starter in the video game and on the field in real life. He’s coming back from a torn Achilles and much of what we’ve seen through social media is that he looks to be 100% healthy or close to it.
As for the rest of the safeties, it’s somewhat surprising to see Brian Branch listed as one. Especially since it seemed like the Lions drafted him to play cornerback. On my draft board for the 2023 NFL Draft, I had Branch listed as my top safety. With a 75 overall rating, Branch is the highest-rated rookie safety in Madden ’24.
Each day that passes, EA Sports releases a new set of rankings for each position group. With these rankings of the Lions secondary, there’s plenty to feel good about with how deep the Lions are at with the safety position. Meanwhile, they’ve got more consistency at cornerback this year than they have in the past. It’ll be fun to see how this group gels in Madden ’24 and for the upcoming season.
