Lions general manager Brad Holmes made it clear last week he’s not done adding to his defensive roster depth in the secondary.
Soon after, the team agreed to a one-year contract with veteran Corn Elder, who played primarily as a nickel corner for Carolina last season. Now the Lions are hosting another veteran cornerback today in Quinton Dunbar, who spent five seasons in Washington before being traded to Seattle a year ago.
The 28-year-old Dunbar was undrafted out of Florida in 2015 as a receiver, but after a position switch he emerged as a starting cornerback in Washington. He led Washington with a team-high four interceptions in 2019, one of those coming in a win over the Lions. However, injuries limited the 6-foot-2, 200-pound outside corner to just 24 games over the last three seasons.
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He played in six games last season with the Seahawks before being sidelined by a knee injury in Week 9 that ultimately required surgery. Dunbar also spent time on the NFL’s exempt list last spring after he was arrested with former Giants cornerback DeAndre Baker following an alleged armed robbery in Florida. Those charges were eventually dropped against both players.
Now Dunbar’s looking for a new home, though, and following last week’s NFL Network report that he’d scheduled visits with the Lions and Cardinals, he flew to Detroit on Monday morning.
After releasing starters Desmond Trufant and Justin Coleman this offseason, the Lions currently have only four cornerbacks signed on their roster — Jeff Okudah, Amani Oruwariye, Mike Ford and Elder — with the start of the NFL’s offseason program a couple weeks away.
“The corner position — and I can say it with more than just the corner position — is a position that we’ll continue to address now throughout the entire process, up until the draft and even after the draft, if need be,” Holmes said. “But it’s definitely a position that is not gonna be overlooked or ignored. It is a young group that we have now. I really like the group that we have, in terms of the youth and the upside. …But that is a position that we’ll continue to look to address now and through the draft.”
john.niyo@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @JohnNiyo