Kindle Vildor spent 2023 with four teams. The last of those will see if he can maintain a role. The Lions re-signed the veteran cornerback on Wednesday, per ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter.
After adding Vildor to a practice squad agreement late last season, the Lions will reunite him with one of his former position coaches. It is a one-year deal. The team hired Deshea Townsend as DB coach this offseason; the former NFL corner coached Vildor in Chicago.
The Lions are likely still looking for more help at corner following the release of Cameron Sutton. The former $11M-per-year defender turned himself in on a domestic battery charge Sunday night. Detroit acquired Carlton Davis from Tampa Bay and re-signed Emmanuel Moseley, but the Sutton development leaves the defending NFC North champions — who already experienced issues at corner last year — vulnerable at the position.
These issues led to the Lions turning to Vildor as a starter opposite Sutton during last season’s final five games. Despite three teams — the Bears, Eagles and Titans — cutting Vildor earlier in 2023, the former fifth-round pick found himself starting and staying on the field for nearly every Lions defensive snap during their most successful playoff run since the 1950s. This did include a memorable play in which a Brock Purdy pass ricocheted off Vildor’s hands and into Brandon Aiyuk‘s arms, setting up a second-half 49ers touchdown during the hosts’ comeback win in the NFC championship game. But the Lions will give the fifth-year vet another opportunity.
Vildor, 26, played under Townsend from 2020-21 with the Bears. The latter year featured a promotion into Chicago’s starting lineup. The Georgia Southern alum could not stick as a starter throughout that season, and the Bears’ Ryan Poles-led regime added second-round cornerbacks (Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson) in each of the previous two offseasons. This led to the Bears waiving Vildor on roster cutdown day last year. Townsend was no longer with Chicago then; he spent the past two years in Jacksonville.
The Lions did not tender Jerry Jacobs, whom Vildor replaced as a boundary starter, as an RFA. But they did add ex-Raider Amik Robertson last month. Robertson offers a background as a slot defender and outside corner, giving a Lions team that also lost safety/slot cog C.J. Gardner-Johnson in free agency. Another move is likely coming, but Vildor will soon have a chance to compete for a Detroit depth role.
More must-reads: