Guaranteed Ways Lions Improve Their Pass Rush
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It’s common knowledge by now of how weak the Lions' pass rush was a season ago.
Injuries derailed a promising defensive front in 2019, after it was supposed to be the strength of the team.
Now, after plenty of transactions via free agency and the draft, their defensive line could look quite a bit different and likely for the better.
If head coach Matt Patricia wants more emphasis on getting to the quarterback, here are a couple of things that must take place in 2020.
First off, the Lions only rushed three defenders more than any team in the league, and subsequently gave opposing quarterbacks the most average time in the NFL to throw and by quite a large margin.
Detroit was the only defense to allow quarterbacks to average more than three seconds of holding onto the ball.
New defensive coordinator Cory Undlin perhaps can be the catalyst to being more aggressive through blitzing.
Undlin comes over from the Philadelphia Eagles, which were a top-10 team in terms of blitzing.
However, it remains to be seen if Patricia will allow Undlin to add his own wrinkles into the defense, despite the fact the New England Patriots led by Bill Belichick -- Patricia’s mentor -- blitzed right around the league average in 2019.
If the Lions want to bring pressure, they will have to find a way to manufacture it as they did in 2018, likely through stunts and being more creative with their versatile linebackers.
Giving the offense different looks and alignments can really make it difficult on the quarterback and offensive line.
Last year, ex-Lions linebacker Devon Kennard played on the line 95 percent of the time.
Considering the defense is supposed to be a hybrid and multiple, it sure didn’t seem like the alignments were changed very often.
Remember, Kennard had plenty of off-ball experience before coming to Detroit.
This year, with no more Kennard, it appears the Lions have made a point to become more flexible with their stack linebackers.
Jamie Collins, Jahlani Tavai and Christian Jones all have experience at EDGE.
In New England, Collins saw 40 percent of his defensive snaps on the line in 2019 -- only rushing the passer on 193 plays compared to 354 coverage snaps on passing downs.
Meanwhile, Tavai lined up 29 percent of the time and Jones a whopping 60 percent of the time on the line in 2019.
Often considered an off-ball linebacker, Jones aligned more on the defensive line than he did off the ball -- typically when the Lions lined up in a 3-4 look.
Jones had 352 snaps against the pass, and only rushed the quarterback on 126 plays, creating a total of 12 pressures.
According to Pro Football Focus, Jones had the second-worst pass-rush productivity rate in the NFL for the 43 linebackers with at least 20 percent of pass-rush snaps. That can definitely be improved upon by switching up personnel.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Jarrad Davis dropped into coverage on 84 percent of his pass snaps, while finishing with the highest pass-rush productivity rate in the league.
He doesn’t have the typical size to play on the edge, and usually rushes from up the middle. In fact, just 54 of his 654 total defensive snaps were on the defensive line.
In Davis’ career, he's logged 142 snaps rushing the passer from an off-ball alignment, with a PFF pass-rush grade of 83.8 -- seven sacks and 37 pressures (18 unblocked and five cleanups) for a 26.1 percent pressure rate.
While seeing 100 snaps exclusively from the EDGE position, Davis’ numbers don’t look nearly as good.
He has a career 64.1 pass-rush grade on one sack and 15 pressures (three unblocked and one cleanup) with a 16.7 percent pressure rate.
In short, a lot of Davis’ production comes from blitzing from his traditional linebacker spot. Playing him at EDGE might limit what he does best.
The Lions will need to find a way to better utilize their linebackers to augment the usual three-down linemen rushers in their scheme.
Secondly, the talent that Detroit has acquired this offseason and the returning players need to remain healthy and perform. That goes without saying, but it is still important to note.
Gone are Damon Harrison and A’Shawn Robinson, while a Mike Daniels return is still unknown.
To replace Harrison and Robinson, Detroit general manager Bob Quinn brought in Danny Shelton and Nick Williams. Both new players add a much-needed boost in terms of pressure.
In almost the same amount of pass-rushing snaps in 2019, Williams provided 21 quarterback pressures to Robinson’s 12. That’s an upgrade.
Comparing "Snacks" Harrison to Shelton last season, Shelton pressured the quarterback on 18 occasions to Harrison’s six -- another improvement.
In search of much-needed interior pressure, the Lions enhanced their unit with the players they brought in through free agency.
Not to mention, a healthy D’Shawn Hand could really go a long way. He is the wild card. After a stellar rookie season where he pressured the quarterback 23 times, injuries limited him to just 66 total pass-rushing snaps in 2019.
For the down defensive ends, the Lions return the same key players from a year ago.
Trey Flowers accumulated 61 total pressures -- 17th-most in the NFL for EDGE rushers.
Romeo Okwara tallied 34 pressures on 349 pass-rushing snaps to 422 for Flowers.
Neither player is considered a top-tier sack artist; hence, the reason the Lions will need to find alternative methods to create opportunities to get to the quarterback.
The two unknowns are 2020 third-round pick Julian Okwara and last year’s fourth-round selection Austin Bryant.
Bryant was injured for a majority of his rookie season. When he did see the field, he only mustered two pressures on 65 rush attempts -- one of the worst pressure rates on a horrible pass-rushing team.
Not to pile on, but Bryant’s best PFF pass-rush grade during his four years at Clemson was only a 64.7 -- which is not great.
Don’t count out the young player just yet, but it’s unlikely for him to make a huge leap in progress in regard to rushing the passer.
Okwara, on the other hand, excelled while at Notre Dame in getting to the quarterback.
He has some major flaws that he needs to fix playing against the run. Yet, he could still be a pass-rushing specialist on obvious passing downs for the Lions.
Okwara ranked sixth in the country in 2018 with 61 pressures, and then earned a 90.4 PFF pass-rushing grade in an injury-shortened senior season in 2019.
All in all, for the Lions to improve in rushing the passer, it’s fairly simple.
Both their new and young players need to live up to the hype, and Patricia must find a way to be more aggressive through blitzing and stunts.
It’s unlikely the Lions will find much success this upcoming season if their pass rush is once again nowhere to be found.
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