Why Saints EDGE Makes Total Sense For Lions in SI Proposed Trade

The Detroit Lions are among the league leaders in total sacks (14) and sack rate (10.6) to start the 2025 NFL season.

Despite veteran defensive end Marcus Davenport already landing on the injured reserve list, Detroit's defense line has showed promise through the first quarter of the season.

Despite the early momentum showcased by Kelvin Sheppard's defense, the notion still remains an NFL team can never have enough pass-rush assistance.

Recently, Sports Illustrated published one trade that each NFL team should look to make.

Writer Matt Verderame proposed Lions general manager Brad Holmes package a third-round pick to the Saints for pass-rusher Carl Granderson.

"The Lions always seem connected to available pass rushers. For the most part, they make it work with what they have the opposite of Aidan Hutchinson," Verderame writes. "But you can never have enough pass rushers, and Detroit knows better than most teams after last year’s injury wave how quickly depth can disappear from the deepest positions. 

"Granderson, 28, is an underrated edge rusher who gets opposing offensive coordinators to scheme against him, which could provide advantageous opportunities for Hutchinson. Granderson has 4.5 sacks and 16 solo tackles this season."

Game balls

After each victory this season, head coach Dan Campbell has taken time to highlight players he felt made plays and assisted the squad in their efforts to secure a victory.

As Campbell explained this week, "Game balls, guys who played well – (Aidan Hutchinson) Hutch, (DJ) Reader, Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, Kerby (Joseph), D.J. Reed. I thought D.J. Reed played lights out, man. Unbelievable. All these guys did. That whole D-line I thought showed up bigtime. Tyleik (Williams), (Pat) O’Connor, (Tyler) Lacy, and (Al-Quadin) Muhammad.

"Offensively, (Jahmyr) Gibbs, that was a good game, man. He had the look in his eye, and I thought he ran hard and made some plays. And then (Amon-Ra) St. Brown and (Kalif Raymond) Leaf and (Sam) LaPorta were big," Campbell commented further. "Certainly the O-line, you get over 100 yards and you don’t allow a sack, we needed to shut down (Myles Garrett) 95, we contained him. So, that was good. Special teams, Leaf, obviously, big return. Pat O’Connor, Grant Stuard, (Khalil Dorsey) Dorse, (Trevor) Nowaske, and Craig Reynolds all made plays for us. So listen, found a way to win, proud of the guys. We had some stuff to clean up, which we’re doing right now, and then it’s on to Cincinnati.”