The Detroit Lions have money to spend and a massive hole on the defensive side of the football.
Detroit struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks last season, particularly after defensive end Aidan Hutchinson broke his leg in Week 5 and sat out for the remainder of the campaign. Coming off of a Pro-Bowl sophomore NFL season, Hutchinson led the team with 7.5 sacks despite missing 12 full games and accounted for more than 20 percent of the defense’s season total of 37 sacks, which tied the Lions for 23rd in the league.
The franchise addressed the issue to some degree ahead of last year’s trade deadline, securing Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns. He played eight regular-season games for Detroit and finished the year with nine total sacks, including four in a Lions’ uniform.
Smith remained a free agent as of July 31 and is among the sensible candidates to fill the biggest need on Detroit’s defense in 2025. However, if the team decides to go a different route, it is one of the most logical landing spots for free agent Matthew Judon.
Matthew Judon Had Down Year in 2024, but Still Valuable as Pass-Rushing Option for Lions
GettyFormer Atlanta Falcons pass rusher Matthew Judon.
Judon finished the final year of his $54.5 million deal with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024 after inking that contract as a member of the New England Patriots.
His production was a far cry from the elite Pro-Bowl years he put up between 2019-22, as he tallied just 5.5 sacks for Atlanta last season. But Judon, who will play the upcoming campaign at 33 years old, proved his durability by playing in all 17 games and starting 15 of those for the Falcons in 2024 after an injury kept him out of all but four contests the season prior.
Judon followed up his four consecutive Pro-Bowl campaigns with four sacks in four games played in 2023 and was on pace for potentially another year of Pro-Bowl honors before he tore his biceps tendon. His output last season, combined with his age, indicates that Judon may be entering into a new phase of his career as simply a pass-rush specialist, but that still renders him the exact type of player that the Lions need.
Matthew Judon Would Slot in as Lions’ Second-Best Edge Rusher in 2025 on Inexpensive Salary
GettyFormer New England Patriots pass rusher Matt Judon.
Judon played 655 defensive snaps for the Falcons in 2024, just shy of 60 percent of the total snaps possible. But he can still get after the quarterback and would add depth to a group of pass rushers in Detroit that is noticeably bereft of it behind Hutchinson.
ESPN currently has Marcus Davenport penciled in as the starting defensive end opposite Hutchinson, which isn’t good news for the Lions, even despite the fact he’s playing on a one-year deal worth just $2.5 million. Davenport has appeared in just six games in the past two seasons and tallied only three sacks across 21 games played over the past three years.
Judon has tallied 174 QB hits, 94 tackles for loss and 72 sacks over the course of his nine-year career. Spotrac projects his market value at roughly $8.5 million over a new two-year deal, while the Lions have more than $48 million in available salary cap space as of the end of July.
Like Heavy Sports’s content? Be sure to follow us.
This article was originally published on Heavy Sports
The post Lions Top Landing Spot for $55 Million Edge Rusher, 4-Time Pro Bowler appeared first on Heavy Sports.