Detroit Lions Stock Report: 13 Risers, 7 Fallers Vs. Saints

After a long Detroit Lions offseason—and finding themselves on the wrong end of a 24-3 second-half run—the Lions scraped by the skin of their teeth thanks to a missed Daniel Carlson 62-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation and defending a failed two-point conversion attempt in a 31-30 overtime victory. Not exactly how it was scripted.

It was mostly a lethargic first half offensively, but after taking a 21-0 lead midway through the third quarter, there was almost a feeling that the Lions might step on the accelerator and floor it past the Saints. That made the dramatic, anxiety-ridden, thrilling finish feel a little disappointing.

But survive and advance as far as Week 1 goes. It’s an oddball NFL slate that often isn’t an accurate indicator of what’s to come. Just last year, the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks lost 17-13 and started the season 0-2, the eventual first-overall-pick Las Vegas Raiders beat the eventual AFC champion New England Patriots, and J.J. McCarthy was NFC Offensive Player of the Week.

Dan Campbell was level-headed and appreciative of the victory, showing little concern both in the locker room and during his postgame press conference. This stock report will carry a similar non-overreactionary approach.

Stock up: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB

Gibbs got his contract extension, and in his new “bell-cow” role, accounted for 50.4% of the Lions’ 369 total yards and 57.7% of their 26 first downs. His 183 total yards are the fourth-most by a Detroit Lions player in a season opener in franchise history.

On a day when the Lions’ offense went through some lulls and wasn’t quite firing on all cylinders, Gibbs willed them down the field and into the end zone. While the offensive line and play design deserve some credit for the run game, it was truly a masterful display from Gibbs, with his vision, patience, pacing, and acceleration all fully on display to the tune of seven runs of 10-plus yards, 12 missed tackles forced, and 82 yards after contact. The team rode him when they needed it most, accounting for 35 yards on their final overtime touchdown drive. For a Saints defense that finished top-10 in the second half of last season in a number of run defense metrics, the Lions rushing attack looked more comfortable and consistent than last season.

The lone negative was a fumble that was overturned on replay review, but Gibbs remains fully primed for a career season as a strong Offensive Player of the Year contender.

Stock up: Derrick Barnes, LB

Barnes, taking on the role of the team’s second linebacker in his sixth season, played a career-high 77 snaps while successfully filling the shoes of his long-time good friend Alex Anzalone. Barnes stepped up and was flying around like a bat out of hell in the second half and overtime.

He did so while evolving beyond the SAM linebacker role on the line of scrimmage in five-down fronts that he had become accustomed to over the last two seasons, instead playing the majority of his snaps as an off-ball, stand-up linebacker next to Jack Campbell.

Barnes kicked off his playmaking by jumping the route and intercepting Tyler Shough’s pass intended for Noah Fant on the first play of the Saints’ opening drive of the second half. On the next drive, he cleaned up Shough for a sack. Later, he brought down Travis Etienne at the line of scrimmage, corralled Shough on a third-down scramble, shut the door on another drive by bringing Etienne down on a third-down red-zone reception to force a field goal, and forced an incompletion along the side of the end zone in overtime. Finally, Barnes even stepped up to take away Shough’s first-read on the two-point conversion.

Overall, Barnes stuffed the stat sheet with six tackles, two quarterback pressures, a sack, an interception, a pass breakup, and three run stops. He looked like the best version of himself—the player the Lions envisioned when they signed him to an extension last offseason and entrusted him with added responsibility while confidently moving on from Anzalone.

Stock down: Jameson Williams, WR

Williams might have had the most apparent and unexpected poor performance of the day. He had one deep pass over the middle—his original bread and butter—that was dropped, another intermediate shot over the middle that was potentially tipped by the defender and couldn’t be hauled in, and he bobbled a reverse that appeared well-designed for him to jettison his way into an explosive gain, if not a touchdown.

Williams also had two other third-down targets on routes near the sideline that were almost within reach. He could’ve created more separation, the throws could’ve been better placed, or both, but Williams and Jared Goff simply couldn’t connect, with both plays resulting in punts.

Williams and Goff just couldn’t get on the same page for most of the afternoon, despite Drew Petzing at least appearing to have a good idea of how to play to Williams’ strengths. A runway route at some point would’ve been nice, but the yards-after-catch opportunities just weren’t as available.

Williams started the first two months of last season, outside of Week 2 against Chicago, with fairly cold and disappointing performances. There’s plenty of evidence to believe that won’t be the case again, but Sunday was still surprising after how impressive Williams looked throughout training camp, when he appeared to be the most polished and dominant version of himself.

To his credit, Williams responded with an unbelievably clutch 22-yard catch on a corner route in overtime, setting up the offense at the 5-yard line. It was Goff’s only completion of the day on a pass traveling 10-plus air yards downfield and outside the numbers.

Williams finished strong when the Lions needed him most, and hopefully that play is something to build on after he managed just 23 receiving yards on eight targets in regulation.

Stock up: Aidan Hutchinson, DE

While his presence wasn’t always felt, one of the qualities needed most from an elite-level pass rusher is getting home when his team needs him most, and Aidan Hutchinson rang the bell there against the Saints. His undressing of left tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. with a timely chop-spin move to sack Tyler Shough and knock the Saints out of field goal range on their final drive of the second quarter was colossal. So was taking advantage of a one-on-one matchup against running back Kendre Miller for his second sack late in the fourth quarter when Detroit desperately needed it.

It took Hutchinson almost two full quarters to really get going, but his impact extended beyond the sacks. He beat right tackle Taliese Fuaga for a pressure that led to Derrick Barnes’ sack, had another clean spin-move win against Fuaga in the red zone before the Saints’ first touchdown on a quick slant, bull-rushed his way into the pocket to force a checkdown to Travis Etienne, and blasted Shough on a twist during the Saints’ late fourth-quarter 42-yard completion to Chris Olave.

Too many defensive snaps played is going to be a theme for a handful of Lions defenders from this game, but all things considered, Hutchinson playing 83.3% of the snaps (75 of 90) is an improvement from the workload he carried in the majority of his games over the last few seasons.

Stock neutral: D.J. Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, Avonte Maddox, and Chuck Clark, starting secondary

Tyler Shough having over 60 dropbacks is going to leave some bad plays on tape for any secondary. So will playing 90 total defensive snaps—the most of the Dan Campbell era—while deploying a top-10 man coverage rate and blitz rate in Week 1. That approach also contributed to Shough having the second-fastest time to throw (2.44 seconds) of the week, especially as the Saints’ offense cranked up the pace in the second half.

Add in the cornerbacks not always having safety help over the top, and this gray-beard, veteran-laden defensive back group understandably had its share of ups and downs.

Each player had plenty of highlights early before the lowlights began to pile up as the game wore on. Reed displayed nuanced hand-fighting to force an early incompletion on a deep ball to Chris Olave, nearly jarred the ball loose when he clobbered Olave on a short completion, and showed strong run support on an outside run. 

Ya-Sin made a strong tackle on an early end-around, created pressure on a screen pass, and sealed the game with sticky coverage on the deciding two-point conversion attempt. Maddox recorded a run stuff near the line of scrimmage and nearly came away with an interception. Clark was active around the line of scrimmage, effective as a blitzer, and ultimately came away with the interception.

Still, the penalties, deep shots, touchdowns (both fade ball or poor angle on rushing touchdown), and 10 catches for 182 yards from Olave were far from ideal. The group was taken advantage as the flood gates opened up in the second half and, as Dan Campbell said afterward, will need to clean some things up.

The workload shouldn’t be overlooked, either. Reed and Ya-Sin each played 89 defensive snaps, while Maddox played 85 despite briefly exiting mid-game with an ailment. That’s a workload this group shouldn’t have to endure again this season.

Despite the aerial barrage, Detroit’s passing defense still finished in the top 15-20 in both passing success rate and EPA per dropback for Week 1. You can live with the tight coverage displayed over the first 30-40 minutes of the game, and there’s enough there for this veteran secondary to build on.

Quick Hits

STOCK UP:

• Juice Scruggs, C — I was a fan of Scruggs when the Lions acquired him, and even he surpassed my expectations in his debut. Nearly a clean sheet in pass protection, relentless climbing and displacement in the run game, and no notable missed assignments from a communication standpoint. 
• Penei Sewell, LT and Blake Miller, RT — In pass protection, Sewell acclimated well for the most part to his new left side while battling Chase Young, while Miller looked like he belonged adjusting to NFL speed. Both were definitively plus players in the run game and were even utilized switching spots on more than one occasion near the goal line. 
• Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR — Wasn’t able to shake loose for much yardage after the catch or get active in the intermediate middle of the field, but he served as an extension of the run game through the quick passing attack and remained a weapon in the red zone. 
• Tay Martin, WR/ST — Along with Eric O’Neill as a close second, Martin was head and shoulders (not the Blake Miller commercial kind) above the rest as the Lions’ most outstanding special teams performer. He lowered the boom more than once as a gunner—once each on punt and kick coverage—and finished with three special teams tackles. 
• Skyler Gill-Howard, DT — It was a pleasant surprise to see Gill-Howard deployed for the fourth-most snaps (47) among Lions defensive linemen, and he made an impact with a handful of pass-rush wins that led to pressures and incompletions, along with tackles in run defense, including a tackle for loss in overtime. His relentless nature brings real value. 
• Tyleik WIlliams, NT — Williams was kept fresh, playing fewer than 40% of the snaps, and was physical at the point of attack, outmuscling Saints center Erik McCoy in the run game, eating double teams, and pushing the pocket as a pass rusher. He also got Shough to double-clutch and delay his delivery on the two-point conversion.
• Malcolm Rodriguez, LB — Rodriguez impressed while splitting third-linebacker reps with Devin White, flowing downhill in a controlled hurry to limit the damage from Etienne and Miller while also snuffing out a screen to Etienne. 
• Roger McCreary, NB — Looked like he belonged while splitting nickel reps with Keith Abney II, came up big with the strip-sack, slammed Etienne on a checkdown, and even lined up stacked as a dime linebacker on at least one passing down. 
• Thomas Harper, S — Harper had a bead on a third-down curl route that he nearly picked off on the Saints’ second possession, was effective as a blitzer, and, unlike Chuck Clark, provided the coverage unit with some range on the back end. 

STOCK DOWN:

• Isaac TeSlaa, WR — A few cement-truck blocks in the run game, but 52 snaps didn’t seem warranted with zero targets on 32 routes run. Hopefully, he can find a way to not be Waldo in the passing offense, particularly when it could use a lift. 
• Sione Vaki, RB/ST — While ideally Gibbs doesn’t eclipse 25-30 touches, Vaki was effective with the ball in his hands. However, he had a number of detrimental MAs as a blocker, bringing into question whether he’s ready to be trusted there yet, and also missed a tackle on one kick return. 
• Derrick Moore, DE — He may still be ramping up from injury, but playing only 18 of 90 defensive snaps (20%) was lower than anticipated. He had one nice stunt that helped produce an intentional grounding but otherwise wasn’t particularly impactful—and that’s okay. 
• Tyler Lacy, DL — Lacy had physically dominant flashes during training camp, but it’s a deep defensive line room and the game flow and opponent didn’t dictate utilizing his strengths. Still, only 15 of 90 defensive snaps (16.7%) was noteworthy 
• Jake Bates, K and Jack Fox, P — A particularly inconsistent placement day from both Bates on kickoffs and Fox on punts. 

STOCK NEUTRAL:

• Drew Petzing, OC — The run-game play calling and sequencing looked rejuvenated, the lone trick play was well-designed, and the pass-protection rules were solid. There was some early-down run-game predictability, though, and the passing offense wasn’t able to unlock the middle of the field. Petzing is adjusting after utilizing plenty of 12- and 13-personnel in Arizona, along with some spread principles for Jacoby Brissett, to more 11-personnel and condensed splits in Detroit. It’ll take time, and there’s no major cause for concern. 
• Kelvin Sheppard, DC — The 410 passing yards were more than Detroit allowed in any single game last season, but Shough was rattled and, at one point in the third quarter, sat at 10-of-22 for 85 yards and two interceptions. There was more good than bad from Sheppard: Detroit shut down the Saints’ run offense, while his 30-plus blitzes were admittedly unscouted and affected Shough, as he mentioned postgame. The defense also produced five sacks and three turnovers. Dropping defensive linemen into coverage on 19 combined snaps—including Gill-Howard five times—was another unexpected wrinkle. 
• D.J. Wonnum, DE — Playing 69 snaps for the defensive end opposite Hutchinson is unheard of and was maybe a little too much for Wonnum to remain fresh and effective. Still, he was a major asset in run defense while leaving some meat on the bone as a pass rusher. 
• Alim McNeill, DT — Eighty-three snaps. Never again. McNeill flashed out of the gate, shooting into the backfield before missing the tackle on the first carry, and generated some pass-rush pressure along with a much-needed cleanup sack. He took advantage of matchups with Caesar Ruiz when he could, but McNeill will need to be more consistently disruptive against the Buffalo Bills, like he was the last time they played in 2024 before he was injured. 
• Jack Campbell, LB — Campbell was a monster in run defense, but taking on additional responsibilities in coverage with Alex Anzalone departed will come with some growth opportunities.