As a lead-up to the 2025 NFL draft, we've broken down the current depth chart of every NFL team and identified the biggest draft and team needs for the Detroit Lions.
You can find additional team-by-team draft needs articles and other draft content on our 2025 NFL Draft Hub.
Detroit Lions Needs: Top Positions of Need in 2025
- Edge Rusher
- Offensive Line
- Defensive Depth
What Picks Do the Detroit Lions Have in 2025?
The Detroit Lions have 7 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft, including:
- Round 1 (28)
- Round 2 (60)
- Round 3 (102)
- Round 4 (130)
- Round 6 (196)
- Round 7 (228)
- Round 7 (244)
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Detroit Lions 2025 Draft Capital Stats
The Lions have the 28th-most draft capital according to our Sharp Football Draft Value.
Our Sharp Football Draft Value is a valuation of draft capital based on a combination of average performance delivered and average dollars earned on second contracts.
Detroit Lions Draft Value vs. Other Teams:
The Lions’ draft value is 26% lower than the league average of all 32 teams.
Detroit Lions Draft Prediction:
Find out who our top-rated experts expect the Lions to draft:
- Brendan Donahue's 2025 NFL Mock Draft – Complete first round breakdown from the #2 most accurate mock drafter over the last five seasons.
- Ryan McCrystal's 2025 NFL Mock Draft – Complete first round breakdown from the #8 most accurate mock drafter over the last five seasons.
Detroit Lions Strength of Schedule, 2025
The Detroit Lions have the 30th-easiest NFL strength of schedule for the 2025 NFL season.
Detroit Lions Offense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs
Rich Hribar breaks down the offensive depth chart by position for the Detroit Lions, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
Quarterback Depth Chart, Lions:
- Jared Goff
- Hendon Hooker
- Kyle Allen
- Jake Fromm
Jared Goff is coming off the best season of his career.
He set career marks in completing 72.4% of his passes for 37 passing touchdowns and 8.6 yards per pass attempt.
Goff led the NFL in EPA dropback on third and fourth downs (0.48).
He even had his best season under pressure, which was the constant hole in his game.
When pressured last year, Goff had career marks across the board, completing 53.4% of his passes (9th) for 6.8 Y/A (9th).
And if you aren’t going to disrupt Goff and this passing game, good luck.
Goff completed a league-high 79.5% of his passes from a clean pocket for 9.3 Y/A (4th) and a 7.7% touchdown rate (3rd).
Goff signed a massive extension last offseason that has him under contract through 2028.
The questions for this passing game will center around the loss of Ben Johnson.
Detroit will have John Morton as offensive coordinator this season.
He was an assistant with Detroit in 2022 and served as the Broncos' passing game coordinator the past two seasons under Sean Payton.
Running Back Depth Chart, Lions:
- Jahmyr Gibbs
- David Montgomery
- Craig Reynolds
- Sione Vaki
This was once again the best backfield in football last season.
Detroit running backs combined for a league-high 44.1 touches and 254.4 yards per game to go along with 32 touchdowns.
Jahmyr Gibbs ended his second season in the league with 1,929 yards from scrimmage and 20 touchdowns on 302 touches.
No running back with as many touches as Gibbs totaled averaged more yards per touch (6.4).
Gibbs posted:
- 5.6 yards per rush (3rd out of 46 running backs with 100 or more rushes)
- 0.14 EPA per rush (1st)
- 16.4% rate of runs for 10 or more yards (1st)
- 2.31 yards before contact per rush (3rd)
- 3.34 yards after contact per rush (12th)
- 28% of his runs result in a first down or touchdown (4th)
David Montgomery averaged 16.3 touches and 83.2 total yards per game with 12 touchdowns.
On that same list of 46 backs, Montgomery was third in success rate (48.1%) as a runner, with 27% of his runs resulting in a first down or touchdown (5th).
It was not all rushing with Monty last season, either.
He averaged 2.6 receptions per game after only 1.1 per game in 2023.
From Weeks 1-14, before his knee injury, Montgomery had 32 receptions for 310 yards, while Gibbs had 34 catches for 312 yards.
Both Gibbs and Montgomery have multiple seasons remaining on their contracts.
Wide Receiver Depth Chart, Lions:
- Amon-Ra St. Brown
- Jameson Williams
- Tim Patrick
- Kalif Raymond
- Tom Kennedy
- Antoine Green
- Ronnie Bell
Amon-Ra St. Brown had another strong campaign in 2024, catching 115 passes for 1,263 yards and a career-high 12 touchdowns.
He picked things up to close the year.
After averaging 58.2 yards per game through 9 games, St. Brown posted 92.4 per game over his final 8.
He had one game below 60 yards over that span after clearing 60 yards only 3 times through nine weeks.
St. Brown ended the season with 27% of the Detroit targets, fifth among wide receivers.
Only CeeDee Lamb has more receptions (343) than St. Brown (340) over the past three seasons.
Detroit took care of St. Brown last offseason, extending him through 2028.
Detroit will have to decide whether to pick up Jameson Williams‘ fifth-year option, but they are expected to do so based on his breakout season last year.
After two seasons of being stuck in a seemingly endless negative feedback loop, Williams caught 58 passes for 1,001 yards and 7 touchdowns over 15 games.
He added 61 yards and a rushing touchdown.
Williams averaged 17.3 yards per reception, the most for any player with 40 or more catches last season.
He had five receiving touchdowns of 37 yards or longer and had another 41-yard touchdown on a lateral.
It was not just about the big plays, though.
Williams came on as a full-field receiver to close the year.
After returning from his two-game suspension in Week 10, Williams collected at least 19% of the team's targets in eight of those nine games.
During those weeks, he had an 11.5% deep target rate and a 34.4% target rate at the intermediate levels.
Over his first six games of the season, Williams had cleared a 13.6% target share just twice.
20% of his targets over that period were deep targets, while 26.7% were intermediate targets.
As a byproduct, he closed the season with a higher floor and splash-play ability.
Williams caught at least 5 passes in six of the season's final seven games.
Detroit got contributions from Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond, but there is no contractual depth here.
Antoine Green is the only wide receiver under contract after this season outside of St. Brown (and assuming they pick up the option for Williams).
Detroit should throw another rookie contract into the fire here on Day 2 or Day 3.
Tight End Depth Chart, Lions:
- Sam LaPorta
- Brock Wright
- Kenny Yeboah
- Shane Zylstra
After catching 86 passes for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rookie, Sam LaPorta took a slight step back last season, catching 60 passes for 726 yards and 7 touchdowns.
He averaged more yards per catch (12.1) and yards per target (8.7) last season versus his rookie year, but LaPorta saw far fewer opportunities, drawing 5.2 targets per game after 7.1 per game as a rookie.
That did change to close the season.
LaPorta finished on a high note, averaging 4.8 catches for 53.3 yards per game with 5 touchdowns over his final 8 games.
LaPorta received 20.4% of the team's targets (second to St. Brown) and was targeted on 21.4% of his routes over that span.
He had only 12.3% of the team targets with a target on 14.1% of his routes prior.
He saw at least 6 targets in 8 straight games to close the year.
LaPorta still has two more years on his rookie deal.
The team still has Brock Wright signed through 2026.
Offensive Line Depth Chart, Lions:
LT: Taylor Decker, Giovanni Manu
LG: Graham Glasgow, Kayode Awosika
C: Frank Ragnow, Michael Niese, Kingsley Eguakun
RG: Christian Mahogany, Colby Sorsdal
RT: Penei Sewell, Dan Skipper, Jamarco Jones
The Detroit offensive line was not as dominant last year as it was in 2023, but it was far from bad, and it did not slow down this offense from being hyper-productive.
The Lions ended the season 12th in ESPN’s pass block win rate (64%) and 16th in run block win rate (72%).
At Pro Football Focus, they were 14th in pass blocking grade but were second in their run blocking grade.
They had to overcome a few injuries along the way.
Penei Sewell was the only lineman to play in every regular-season game.
The core here is still strong and intact.
Sewell, Taylor Decker, Frank Ragnow, and Graham Glasgow are all under contract for multiple seasons.
They did lose Kevin Zeitler in free agency, creating a void at right guard.
Detroit selected Christian Mahogany in the sixth round last season.
He appeared for 75 snaps, making one start as a rookie.
They could add another rookie here as competition and potential insurance down the line for Glasgow.
Glasgow will turn 33 this July and is coming off a down season.
Per Pro Football Focus, he was 57th in overall grade at his position, allowing a 7.1% pressure rate that ranked 85th out of 96 guards who played 100 or more snaps.
Detroit Lions Defense: Depth Chart, Analysis & Draft Needs
Raymond Summerlin breaks down the defensive depth chart by position for the Detroit Lions, identifying areas where the team could improve in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.
Defensive Line Depth Chart, Lions:
- Alim McNeill
- DJ Reader
- Levi Onwuzurike
- Roy Lopez
- Mekhi Wingo
- Pat O’Connor
- Brodric Martin
- Chris Smith
- Myles Adams
The Lions were not the immovable object they had been against the run in 2023, but they slowed down running backs effectively.
They finished 12th in yards allowed per running back carry (4.2) and seventh in explosive run rate against on RB carries (8.6%).
The core of this unit is back after the Lions signed Levi Onwuzurike to a surprisingly cheap one-year extension.
Onwuzurike has struggled with injuries in the past, but he was solid across 635 snaps a season ago, logging a quality 11.7% pressure rate despite finishing with just 1.5 sacks.
Getting Onwuzurike back is good for the Lions given the torn ACL Alim McNeill suffered late in the season.
The talented defensive tackle will likely miss the beginning of the season and may have to be eased back once he is ready to go.
DJ Reader has had his own issues staying on the field throughout his career, but he started 15 games in his first season with the Lions, getting 3 sacks and showing well against the run.
The Lions brought in Roy Lopez as depth in free agency and have some youth on the depth chart in 2024 sixth-round pick Mekhi Wingo and 2023 third-round pick Brodric Martin, who has appeared in five games in two seasons.
Still, Detroit could look to add here given the likelihood McNeill will miss some time and the fact that both Reader and Onwuzurike are scheduled to be free agents after the season.
EDGE Depth Chart, Lions:
- Aidan Hutchinson
- Marcus Davenport
- Al-Quadin Muhammad
- Josh Paschal
- Mitchell Agude
- Nate Lynn
- Isaac Ukwu
Despite losing Aidan Hutchinson after five games, the Lions still ranked sixth in pressure rate (37.1%), but they finished with just 37 sacks (23rd).
They also manufactured that pressure, blitzing at the fourth highest rate in the league.
Despite playing just five games, Hutchinson led the team with 7.5 sacks.
He had a 25% pressure rate prior to the injury – Myles Garrett led the league with 18.4% – and appeared headed toward Defensive Player of the Year honors.
The good news is that Hutchinson went down early in the season, and he should be 100% well before Week 1.
The Lions will also pick up Hutchinson’s 2026 option, giving them time to work out a long-term deal.
The injury at the top of the depth chart exposed the lack of depth.
Marcus Davenport was re-signed, but he went out before Hutchinson, playing just two games in 2024 after four games for the Vikings in 2023.
Staying on the field has always been an issue for Davenport, so the Lions should view anything they get from him this year as a bonus.
Za’Darius Smith remains a free agent after the team cut him ahead of free agency.
Smith was added at the trade deadline to bolster the pass rush, and he had 4 sacks and a 17.8% pressure rate with the Lions.
Perhaps Detroit looks to bring him back, but it does not appear as if anything is imminent right now.
The Lions did bring back Al-Quadin Muhammad after he earned 3 sacks in 9 games a season ago, but he is a better depth option than a front-end starter.
The same is true of Josh Paschal, who might be better suited inside if the group on the edge is in a better place in 2025.
Detroit has to find a real starter opposite Hutchinson, and they could spend an early draft pick to make that happen.
Linebacker Depth Chart, Lions:
- Jack Campbell
- Alex Anzalone
- Derrick Barnes
- Malcolm Rodriguez
- Grant Stuard
- Trevor Nowaske
- Anthony Pittman
- Ezekiel Turner
- Abraham Beauplan
- DaRon Gilbert
A 2023 first-round pick, Jack Campbell took over the linebacker position in his second season, playing 974 snaps across 17 games.
He led the team with 12 run stuffs and recorded a tackle on 24.4% of his run defense snaps.
That tackle rate ranked fifth among qualified linebackers.
The rest of the depth chart struggled to stay on the field, with Alex Anzalone, Malcolm Rodriguez, and Derrick Barnes all missing time.
Anzalone is the clear No. 2 option when healthy, and he played well when he was on the field.
He is headed into a contract year, though.
Barnes was scheduled to be a free agent this season, but the Lions kept him with a three-year, $24 million contract.
He suffered a torn MCL and PCL in Week 3 last season, but he should be back to full health well before Week 1.
Rodriguez was getting more playing time than he did in 2023, but a torn ACL ended his season in late November.
The timing and nature of that injury raise some concerns about his Week 1 availability, an issue for a player headed into his contract year.
This unit would be in good shape if everyone were healthy, but that can’t be taken for granted after last season.
There are also some contractual questions, making this a position the Lions could target later in the draft.
Cornerback Depth Chart, Lions:
- D.J. Reed
- Terrion Arnold
- Amik Robertson
- Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
- Avonte Maddox
- Rock Ya-Sin
- Khalil Dorsey
- Stantley Thomas-Oliver
The Lions allowed 7.2 yards per attempt (22nd) in 2024, but they also allowed a league best 3% touchdown rate and recorded 16 interceptions (5th).
Carlton Davis left in free agency, but the Lions may have gotten a better deal with former Jet D.J. Reed.
Reed was one of the more underrated corners during his time with the Jets, allowing an 83.3 quarterback rating in coverage and 6.2 yards per target.
He finished with 11 passes defensed in 14 games in 2024.
Reed will pair with 2024 first-round pick Terrion Arnold, who had some rookie hiccups but still allowed a respectable 93.7 quarterback rating in coverage.
There is every reason to expect growth from Arnold in year two.
The Lions also added a corner in the second round of the 2024 draft, selecting Ennis Rakestraw out of Mizzou.
Rakestraw was not a factor as a rookie, playing 48 snaps total on defense as he struggled with injuries.
Those injuries are a concern since it was also an issue in college, but Rakestraw does have the talent to push for snaps in year two if he is healthy.
The player he will push is Amik Robertson, who handled slot duties until he was forced more outside late in the season.
His season ended with a broken arm in the playoff loss to the Commanders, but he should be healthy by Week 1.
The Lions also added some good veteran depth with Avonte Maddox and Rock Ya-Sin, giving them some options.
At full potential, a Reed, Arnold, Rakestraw trio would be formidable.
Either way, the Lions don’t have much work to do at corner.
Safety Depth Chart, Lions:
- Kerby Joseph
- Brian Branch
- Loren Strickland
- Morice Norris
- Erick Hallett
The Lions have arguably the best safety duo in the league.
Kerby Joseph finished the season as the top graded safety at PFF, and he was outstanding in coverage.
Joseph allowed just a 39.1 quarterback rating in coverage while leading the league with 9 interceptions in 2024.
That performance earned him his first All Pro nod.
The 2022 third-round pick is scheduled to hit free agency after this season, which is the Lions' only real concern at the top of the depth chart.
Brian Branch is the other outstanding safety in Detroit, a do-it-all option who plays closer to the line and helps out covering in the slot.
Branch finished third on the team in run stuffs and recorded a tackle on 14.6% of his run defense snaps.
Those numbers ranked ninth and 18th among qualified defensive backs.
He also made big plays, recording 4 interceptions of his own, forcing a fumble, and nabbing a sack.
Branch was selected to his first Pro Bowl in 2024.
The concern here is depth, though the Lions could choose to use Avonte Maddox more as a safety to help solve that issue.
Drafting for depth does make sense, but getting Joseph locked up to an extension should be the priority at safety.
2025 Depth Chart Analysis & Team Needs for All 32 NFL Teams
