Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive back Christian Izien (29). Denny Medley-Imagn Images

Grading Detroit Lions Signing of DB Christian Izien

Originally posted on Detroit Lions on SI
By Emmett Matasovsky | Last updated Mar 12, 2026 1:23 PM ET

On Wednesday, the new league year officially began, which finalized the deals the Detroit Lions had made throughout the legal tampering period, along with the trade of David Montgomery to the Houston Texans.

However, beyond the finalizing of the deals, much remained silent in Motown outside of the release of Josh Paschal.

General manager Brad Holmes changed that on Thursday morning, signing former Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Christian Izien.

Izien reportedly signed a one-year deal with Detroit. Terms of the agreement have yet to be released.

The safety broke into the league after going undrafted, with the Rutgers product recording a pair of interceptions during his first two games in the NFL. He played in all 17 games as a rookie, starting four and recording 65 tackles.

He built on that for 2024, with 10 starts in 14 games. He also has an interception of Jared Goff on his resume, as Tampa Bay handed Detroit one of their few losses that season.

Last season, however, he took a step back, only recording one start. Tampa Bay elected not to tender the safety, and eventually hit the free agency market.

It is worth noting that starting safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph are each dealing with respective lower body injuries, with Branch not expected to return in time for the beginning of the season.

Joseph is a much more unclear timeline, with Holmes nor head coach Dan Campbell providing much confidence in their answers about Joseph’s status at the NFL scouting combine.

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Additionally, 2025 seventh-round pick Dan Jackson missed the entire season with a lower-body injury. Izien might be an option if the timeline does not look great for the Georgia product.

The Izien signing implies that it is likely one of the Lions free agent safeties will not be back. That list includes both Thomas Harper and Avonte Maddox, who stepped up after injuries.

Between injuries and falling down the depth chart, Izien did not record enough snaps to count towards PFF grading, but his grades from 2024 do not jump off the page. Izien ranked 74 out of 97 qualifying safeties in the league, with his only stat that ranked higher than 71st of qualifying safeties being his run defense, where it was rated 58th of 97.

That said, Izien is being given the same sort of contract that both Maddox and Rock Ya-Sin got last offseason from Brad Holmes, where they each earned playing time to outperform their expectations when originally signed.

This “prove it” deal for Izien amounts to a low-risk decision that could have a high reward if Izien fits with Kelvin Sheppard’s scheme. He has shined before, and enters his age-26 season with NFL experience.

However, Izien has dealt with neck, quadriceps, and oblique injuries in the last season alone.

Between that and his unfavorable PFF grades, he could wind up being a NFL roster cut casualty depending on other free agent and NFL draft acquisitions.