Areas of Concern for Lions in 2025 Season

The Detroit Lions have plenty of areas to improve despite finishing the 2024 season with a 15-2 record.

While plenty of key players on last year's team return, and some with full health after missing significant portions of that season, Detroit can perform better in multiple areas. In particular, the team finished 31st in the league with 19 defensive pass interference penalties last year.

As a byproduct of their physical, hands-on style of coverage, the Lions defensive backs struggled with drawing penalties. Notably, cornerback Terrion Arnold was flagged seven times for pass interference throughout his rookie season.

These penalties, and the fact that they're spot fouls and can create big gains for opponents, is a primary area of concern for the Lions moving into the 2025 season.

"I think that the biggest area of concern is the way they play defense," said 'Lone Wolves' co-host Christian Booher. "The stat that defines that, to me, is the pass interference penalties. They ranked 31st in the league in pass interference penalties, and they had 19 of them. The thing about pass interference penalties is that they're spot fouls most of the time, but you're talking about a team that gave up 274 yards on pass interference penalties last year."

The Lions defense will have new leadership in 2025 in Kelvin Sheppard, who has been with the organization since 2021. While he will add new wrinkles, the team's overall style may not deviate much due to Sheppard's background being under former coordinator Aaron Glenn.

As a result, Sheppard will be tasked with improving the overall production of the cornerback position and finding ways to avoid the dreaded penalty flags.

“Kelvin Sheppard is a natural leader. He’s a very good coach, but I still think there’s gonna be some kinks to work out defensively as far as scheme and how they play defensively," Booher said. "Obviously with a linebacker background, that’s kind of where his focus goes, but I think the area of concern is the secondary, particularly the cornerback position. Ironing out those pass interference penalties, not giving up free yards on defensive holding, they have to be better at that. I think that’s my biggest area of concern.”

On the latest 'Lone Wolves' podcast, the hosts also explored Brad Holmes' confidence in the defensive ends. Additionally, they discussed expectations for Jared Goff and debated the best Lions team since 2000, as well as whether Goff or Matthew Stafford has been the team's best passer in the 21st century.

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