2026 season · through Week 4
Detroit Lions Defense Profile
What the Lions defense allows by target type, area and depth, how it rushes and covers, and its corners. Every number is adjusted for the offenses faced, shrunk toward the league, and labelled with how well that kind of split held up in our 2023–25 stability tests.
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In plain English
- A Man-heavy in 2025: 42.6% man coverage (A reliability)
- B Generous to throws over the middle (B reliability)
- C Generous to short throws over the middle (C reliability)
- C Generous to wide receivers (C reliability)
DET Head coach Dan Campbell · Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard · Defensive play-caller Kelvin Sheppard · All coaches
A stable and predictiveB passes our stability barC weak signal, context onlynoise noise in our tests
Pass defense by target type
Receiving fantasy points allowed per game to each group (slot and outside corners: PPR points per target, from PFR coverage of the depth chart’s nickel vs outside corners). Bar = percentile among the 32; the tick is the league median.
- noisevs TEs14.5 · 31/32
- CRB receiving8.1 · 6/32
- Cvs WRs33.6 · 30/32
- CWRs middle8.9 · 29/32
- noiseWRs outside (L/R)24.1 · 27/32
- noiseSlot CB (NB)1.7 · 26/32
- COutside CBs1.7 · 20/32
By area and depth
Fantasy points allowed per game on throws to the left, middle and right, short (under 15 air yards) and deep. Left and right are from the quarterback’s view.
- CShort42.9 · 30/32
- noiseDeep (15+ air yds)13.6 · 32/32
- noiseLeft18.8 · 9/32
- BMiddle15.5 · 32/32
- noiseRight22.7 · 32/32
- noiseLeft short14.9 · 9/32
- CMiddle short11.4 · 31/32
- CRight short16.9 · 32/32
- noiseLeft deep4.0 · 9/32
- noiseMiddle deep3.6 · 31/32
- noiseRight deep5.7 · 32/32
Scheme: pressure, boxes and what offenses run at them
From FTN charting of every play this season (pressure from PFR). Blitz = at least one extra rusher. “Faced” rates describe what offenses chose against this defense.
- ABlitz rate33.9% · 23/32
- APass rushers4.44 · 27/32
- CPressure rate26.1% · 23/32
- noiseEPA when blitzing+0.00 · 25/32
- CBox count (runs)6.84 · 32/32
- C8+ man boxes12.7% · 30/32
- BPlay action faced25.0% · 28/32
- CScreens faced7.1% · 1/32
- noiseRPOs faced4.6% · 30/32
- CMotion faced58.0% · 5/32
Coverage baseline (2025)
Man/zone and coverage shells come from the nflverse participation file, published after each season, so this is last season’s baseline. Same defensive coordinator as last season.
- Man coverage A
- 42.6%
- 29 of 32 (32 = most)
- Two-high shells A
- 39.5%
- 10 of 32 (32 = most)
- Pressure rate C
- 31.8%
- 23 of 32 (32 = most)
- Time to throw C
- 2.83 s
- 31 of 32 (32 = most)
Most-used shells
- Cover 129%
- Cover 327%
- Cover 217%
- 2-Man11%
- Cover 4 (quarters)7%
Corners
Coverage allowed this season (Pro Football Reference via nflverse). Side from the latest depth chart. All CB report cards
| Corner | Spot | Tgt | Cmp % | Yds/tgt | Rating | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock Ya-Sin | Right corner (backup) | 19 | 68% | 5.1 | 97.7 | 1 |
| D.J. Reed | Left corner | 14 | 64% | 12.4 | 131.3 | 1 |
| Avonte Maddox | – | 11 | 55% | 14.4 | 139.2 | 2 |
| Roger McCreary | Nickel (slot) | 11 | 82% | 10.1 | 139.0 | 1 |
| Christian Izien | Nickel (slot) | 8 | 88% | 4.1 | 83.9 | 0 |
| Ennis Rakestraw | Right corner | 3 | 33% | 2.0 | 42.4 | 0 |
| Keith Abney | Left corner (backup) | 1 | 100% | -2.0 | 79.2 | 0 |
Last 8 games (across seasons): vs TEs 31/32 · vs WRs 22/32 · Middle 32/32 · Blitz rate 20/32 (rank 32 = most).
How this works
For each game we total what the defense allowed in a split (receiving fantasy points and EPA on targets, or a rate such as blitzes per dropback), and subtract what the same offense produced in that split in its other games. A defense’s adjustment is the average difference. We shrink it toward the league with empirical Bayes, using spreads fitted on 2023–25, and carry part of last season forward only where the split persisted year to year.
Grades come from our stability tests (odd vs even weeks, weeks 1–8 predicting 9–18, year over year, with a false-discovery-rate correction across all splits). Only A and B splits are candidates for projection adjustments. See every result.
Charting data: FTN Data via nflverse, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; our derived charting figures are shared under the same licence. Coverage allowed by defender: Pro Football Reference via nflverse. Coverage type (man/zone, shells): nflverse participation data. Play-by-play: nflverse.
Sources: nflverse play-by-play, FTN Data via nflverse (CC-BY-SA 4.0), Pro Football Reference via nflverse
Frequently asked questions
Is the Lions defense weak against tight ends?
Our profile shows fantasy points allowed to tight ends after adjusting for the offenses faced and shrinking toward the league. But in 2023–25 a defense’s TE points allowed in odd weeks barely matched its even weeks (reliability 0.14), so treat any “weak vs TEs” label as context, not a reason to start a tight end.
Which defensive splits actually hold up?
Scheme tendencies are very stable: blitz rate, pass rushers sent, man coverage rate and two-high shells (grade A). Of the fantasy splits, only points allowed on throws over the middle passed our bar (grade B). Most position and area splits, deep passes included, failed: they are mostly noise.
What does “likely matchup” mean?
We match a receiver’s usual alignment (left, right or slot from the depth chart) to the opposing corner listed at that spot. It is a proxy, not shadow coverage: we do not have play-by-play coverage assignments.
Why is the man/zone data from last season?
Coverage type comes from the nflverse participation file, which is published after the season. We show the prior season as a baseline and flag teams with a new defensive coordinator, whose scheme may have changed.