USAT: Lions Wire audio clip

USAT: Lions Wire

Mar 26, 2022

Jarrad Davis is back in Detroit, signing a one-year deal to return to the Lions barely a year after the former first-round linebacker left by popular demand. Bringing Davis back is quite a statement by Lions GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell. - What exactly that statement says depends on how it plays out for Davis, the new-look rebuilding defense and the upcoming draft. - Davis was the team’s first-round pick back in 2017. To say he never lived up to expectations is charitable. - Davis was not a good player in his first stint in Detroit. The mere act of trying to prop up Davis’ occasional blitzing success or decent open-field tackling back in the 2018-2020 seasons would draw instant and vociferous ridicule from most every corner of the fan base. I know, because I lived through that. Fans hated Jarrad Davis and everything he represented about the Lions. Anything remotely positive we said or wrote about Davis brought some truly nasty scorn and deep-rooted enmity. The comment sections were more brutal than the sports radio callers who demanded retribution for former GM Bob Quinn’s big draft miss. - And now he’s back… - The initial reception has been mixed. Many are outraged, remembering the Davis they couldn’t wait to get rid of for years. Some are encouraged by the possible redemption arc of a person who was generally well-liked personally by fans even if they loathed his on-field performance. - Davis acknowledged as much in his press conference on Friday afternoon. Always a perceptive and intelligent guy, Davis stated the obvious about his first Lions stint. - “Every time (with Detroit) wasn’t always a good time,” Davis said before praising the fans, Ford Field, the city and even the Michigan weather. - Making the vitriolic fans forget those bad times will be quite a task for Davis. He didn’t help his cause with his one-year sojourn to the New York Jets in 2021. Davis missed the first seven weeks with an ankle injury. When he came back, he quickly played his way out of prominent reps and into limited duty in Robert Saleh’s Jets defense that seemed perfectly suited to his particular set of skills. His 28.6 overall Pro Football Focus score (on 209 snaps) was the worst of his career. - Davis was, quite literally with his PFF grade, the worst linebacker in the league who played at least 200 snaps. It turns out there was a bottom even lower than his unsavory final three years in Detroit under now-deposed coach Matt Patricia. - Now he’s poised to try and redeem himself. Davis has one year with Campbell to follow the path blazed a year ago by Charles Harris, another former first-round flop who rebuilt his reputation and career with an impressive 2021 in Detroit. Campbell and his staff worked beautifully with Harris, playing to his strengths and rebuilding his confidence. - Harris parlayed the redemptive season into a new contract with the Lions. And that’s clearly the goal for the team with Davis, too. - It’s easy to get excited for an epic narrative change for Davis. Campbell and his coaching staff did a fantastic job at maximizing player development in their first year in Detroit. It didn’t win a lot of games but it did prove successful in terms of building the roster up and proving a supportive environment works better than the alternative manner that Lions fans witnessed from 2018 to 2020. - A healthy Davis playing anywhere close to the potential of the speedy first-rounder from Florida he was five years ago helps the Lions middle-of-field defense. He’s now reunited with his Gators running mate, Alex Anzalone, who re-signed with Campbell after a down-and-up first year in Detroit. Anzalone too is something of a reclamation project. - There are a lot of those on the Detroit roster. Campbell’s force of personality and staff of positive, instructive, demanding but rewarding assistant coaches made several of those work in their first year in Detroit. It’s awesome to see guys like Harris, Kalif Raymond, Tracy Walker, Halapoulivaati Vaitai and Craig Reynolds turn into the best versions of themselves and still be part of the team’s plans in 2022 and beyond. - It’s completely within the character and identity of the team. Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn preached “players over scheme”, and his actions prove he and Campbell believe in that philosophy. Coaxing performances above expectation from so many young players in 2022 proved it can work. - But there is also risk in trusting that Campbell and his staff can recreate that magic in 2022. It’s an acute risk at linebacker, where the Lions have brought back quite a crowd. Just this offseason, the Lions committed to Anzalone, Davis, Chris Board, Josh Woods and Shaun Dion Hamilton as free agents. Derrick Barnes is back for his second season and a bigger role, too. - For a team that will play a base 4-2-5 defense and will rely on one LB being on the field far more than it fields three, that’s a lot of experienced bodies all earning money and opportunities. It’s certainly enough to believe that the team is done adding talent at the off-ball linebacker position. You know, the sore spot where every Lions fan agrees the team desperately needs to get better this offseason. - Davis could make the Lions LB corps better. As could Anzalone and the others. Internal improvement and the schematic deemphasis on the position can absolutely work. But the history of the players themselves says it’s not a safe bet. These are the same players who have not been good enough to solve the LB problem in the past, but right now they’re the only plan the team has for the future. - If the Lions eschew selecting a linebacker from a historically deep and talented draft class, and a player like Troy Andersen or Brandon Smith or Channing Tindall or Chad Muma or Nakobe Dean or Leo Chenal or Darrian Beavers–among many other promising 2022 NFL draft LB prospects–turns into a strong starter elsewhere while the experiment with Anzalone, Davis et al, fizzles, it’s not going to be a good situation for Holmes and Campbell. - The best-case outcome is that Davis finally stays healthy, finally stops missing open-field tackles and emerges as a bedrock building piece that earns a multi-year contract. A former team captain who was well-liked and respected in the locker room and the community outside of football purposes like Davis was, well that’s an easy outcome to root for. His enthusiastic desire to return to Detroit after his unsavory first stint speaks to Davis’ character and the opportunity he clearly sees to make it happen under Campbell. - But if it doesn’t work out, there are a lot of uneasy fans who won’t forget the team’s plan to upgrade at LB (and quarterback for that matter) was nothing more than hoping and praying for previous failures to just get better. That’s the risk for Campbell and Holmes, and it’s one they didn’t need to attack with such pre-draft urgency. - Fingers crossed… - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Lions Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Lions Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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