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Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Sunday's loss proves that the Lions made the right choice by not trading for Trey Hendrickson

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Mike Payton | Last updated Sep 8, 2025 2:09 PM ET

Yes, I know that the headline is probably making you crazy because absolutley nobody wants to believe that the Lions' defensive line didn't have the worst night they've ever seen. It wasn't that bad. It was rough on the first couple of drives, but the Lions settled in and started to generate pressure. Plus, there's some real nuance to what the Packers did in this game.

The problem is that too many people think that pressure means sacks. Getting to the quarterback is what you want to do, but getting the quarterback off his mark and forcing him to move around or make a bad throw is big. The Lions did that to Jordan Love. It does not matter if you don't believe that. Despite Aidan Hutchinson getting doubled all night, he still managed to log three pressures and a quarterback hit. The team had seven total pressures in all, and you could see how that clearly affected the Packers' offense in the second half when they were largely ineffective outside of the one drive they got to start in Lions' terriorty.

On top of that, there's some lying that the eyes are doing here. What your eyes tell you is that there was not a lot of pressure, but what your eyes don't want to take is that there weren't a lot of opportunities to pressure. Jordan Love barely dropped back to pass in this game. In the second half, he dropped back just six times. When were the pressures supposed to come?

One thing to keep in mind as you look at pressure stats from the Lions defense: they faced just 22 dropbacks vs. GB.

By pressure percentage, the Lions were actually 13th.

Thought it looked better in the second half, but Love dropped back to pass just 6 times after halftime.
— Jeremy Reisman (@DetroitOnLion) September 8, 2025

So the point here is that it wasn't perfect or even a great night, but it was a decent enough showing for this defense to know that changing the landscape of the franchise to bring in Hendrickson was not the right thing to do, especially now that we know what the Bengals wanted for Hendrickson.

The Packers, who traded for Micah Parsons, were trying to trade for Hendrickson before that, and according to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Bengals wanted more than just a draft pick or two.

"The Bengals gave Hendrickson permission to seek a trade prior to April's 2025 NFL Draft and there was an openness from Cincinnati to at least consider offers throughout, as well. Late this summer, the Bengals appeared open to listening to proposals, wanting a standout player (like Kenny Clark) and a mid-round pick the following year in a potential trade."

That means the Bengals would have wanted not just a mid-round pick that was probably something like a third-round pick. They wanted a standout player, too. Let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the player for the Lions could have been Brian Branch. Add to that the Lions don't have a third-round pick. So maybe that becomes a second.

Even if it's a fourth, are you willing to give up a 23-year-old Pro Bowler who has proven to be one of the best players at his position for a 31-year-old player who's likely not to be here long and is closer to the end of his prime than the beginning? Maybe some of you would, but the Lions definitely would not.

Should the Lions be on the lookout for edge help this season? Yes, they should. An extra guy or two would really help. That guy does not need to be super expensive, and he doesn't need to come at the expense of losing one of the pillars of your franchise? Absolutley not.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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