Detroit Free Press

Jason Hanson was a unicorn. The Detroit Lions took Hanson in the second round of the 1992 NFL draft, and Hanson went on to have an illustrious 21-year career with the team. He made two Pro Bowls, he was inducted into the Lions’ ring of honor in 2013, and he holds the NFL record for

Free Press sports reporter Dave Birkett takes a position-by-position look at the top prospects and biggest Lions needs in the 2023 NFL draft. This is the first in an eight-part series: With nine picks in next week’s draft, including four in the fifth and sixth rounds, the Detroit Lions are prime candidates to use a selection

I respect Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff and left tackle Taylor Decker. I value what they say, how they carry themselves and the leadership they’ve shown through tough times while playing two of football’s hardest positions. But something they said Tuesday was deeply concerning, because it speaks to potentially being unprepared to face the best

Alim McNeill likes what the Detroit Lions did in free agency, adding three new starters to their secondary and re-signing key depth pieces in the front seven in Isaiah Buggs, John Cominsky and Alex Anzalone. “Yeah, 100%,” the defensive lineman said Tuesday after the Lions’ second voluntary workout of the offseason. “It’s almost like we’re

A year ago, the thought of it seemed absurd. But that it came up on Day 2 of the Detroit Lions‘ formal offseason program Tuesday is a credit to quarterback Jared Goff and how well he played last season. With the NFL draft days away, and Jalen Hurts a new bazillionaire, the Lions face the

Six months after he was briefly left unable to speak or move on the football field, Saivion Smith has re-signed with the Detroit Lions. Smith suffered a scary injury in an October loss to the New England Patriots, when he collapsed to the ground after trying to jam Patriots tight end Hunter Henry early in

One year later, everything has changed. For all of them. Detroit Tigers shortstop Javier Báez has gone from “Yes! Finally, the Tigers are spending some money” to “Ugh, I’m so sick of this, stop swinging at stuff in the dirt.” Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell has gone from “OK, he’s fun and a good quote

Amon-Ra St. Brown left Detroit in January bracing for bad news. St. Brown saw Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson briefly in the hallway of the team’s Allen Park practice facility after he finished his end-of-season exit interview with receivers coach Antwaan Randle El. He dapped up Johnson just before the Lions’ first-year play-caller ducked

The Detroit Lions set a franchise record for touchdowns by tight ends last season, with most of that production coming after a midseason trade sent T.J. Hockenson to the Minnesota Vikings. But as productive as Brock Wright, James Mitchell and Shane Zylstra were in the second half of the season, new tight ends coach Steve

Times weren’t always so tough in Detroit sports. It has been a decade since the city last saw a team advance in the playoffs — when the Tigers beat the A’s in the 2013 ALDS, after Justin Verlander threw eight shutout innings and struck out 10 in win-or-go-home Game 5. (No need to talk about

Years ago, I was walking out of the Detroit Lions locker room with Dre Bly and Ndamukong Suh. Bly was a veteran closing out his career in his final training camp. Suh was a prized and promising rookie. “You wanna trade game checks?” Bly casually asked Suh. I chuckled quietly. Suh, humorless as ever, quietly

John Fox figured he was done with coaching when he was fired by the Chicago Bears the day after the 2017 season ended. Fox was drained from a lifetime in the sport, including nearly two straight decades as a head coach with the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Bears. He found work as a studio

New Detroit Lions defensive line coach John Scott Jr. is still haunted by the last time he saw Aidan Hutchinson on the field. Scott was an assistant at Penn State in November 2021, and Hutchinson was a wrecking ball in the process of leading Michigan to a 21-17 win over the Nittany Lions. Hutchinson forced

The Detroit Lions have done everything publicly to back Jared Goff as their quarterback, but they have not closed the door on taking his replacement with one of their two first-round picks. The Lions, who pick sixth and 18th in the first round, will host Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud on a pre-draft visit this

The men who drafted Jeff Okudah to the Detroit Lions have long since left town, done in by years of bad football and their inability to build — and manage — an NFL roster. But Okudah’s trade to the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday, for the prudent return of a fifth-round pick, is one more reminder

Jeff Okudah lost his starting job late last season, and after the Detroit Lions added three new starters to their secondary in free agency, the fourth-year cornerback no longer had a firm grip on a roster spot. So the Lions traded Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons on Tuesday for a fifth-round pick in this month’s

Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest mock draft couldn’t have turned out any better for the Detroit Lions. Kiper, the ESPN analyst, has the Lions landing two of the draft’s consensus five best prospects with their two first-round picks: Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson Jr. at No. 6 and Texas running back Bijan Robinson at No. 18.

The Detroit Lions overhauled their secondary in free agency, and they appear to be making plans to address the rest of their defense in this month’s NFL draft. The Lions already have pre-draft visits scheduled or completed with top defensive line prospects Jalen Carter and Will Anderson Jr., and one of the draft’s best linebacker

Last year, Brad Holmes traded up in the first round of the NFL draft to take wide receiver Jameson Williams. This year, he could have the chance to move down. The Detroit Lions have the sixth pick in what could be a very quarterback-heavy top 10, and with two QB-needy teams picking directly behind them,

Former Detroit Lions cornerback Alex Brown was sentenced to four months in Wayne County jail for a charge of operating a vehicle with a high blood-alcohol content for his role in a 2021 crash that injured a teammate. Brown entered a nolo contendre plea on Jan. 23, Wayne County Circuit Court records show, and was