The Detroit Lions are unsurprisingly trying to upgrade their cornerback room after D.J. Reed, Terrion Arnold, and Khalil Dorsey suffered somewhat significant injuries in the past two weeks. However, their latest attempt was thwarted by the New Orleans Saints. Per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, the Lions attempted to sign veteran cornerback Michael Davis. But the Saints, who were initially trying to sign Davis to their practice squad, upped their offer to a spot on the 53-man roster, and Davis has now officially signed with them.
When asked on Twitter why Davis is opting to sign with the Saints over the Lions, Garafolo said, “familiarity with Brandon Staley and his defense.” Staley is the Saints’ defensive coordinator, and he was the head coach of the Chargers during two of Davis’ seven seasons with Los Angeles.
Davis, 30, is a 6-foot-2 cornerback with 76 total starts under his belt. After his seven years with the Chargers, he spent 2024 with the Washington Commanders, playing in 15 games and starting two. However, he went this entire offseason unsigned as a free agent.
So the Lions will have to go back to the drawing board to fill out the rest of their cornerback room. The good news is that Arnold’s injury—once thought to be season-ending—may only cost the second-year cornerback a few games. A second opinion on his shoulder injury suggested he could bypass surgery and even return to the field within the month, per various reports.
Still, it seems likely Detroit will add some depth to the room to get them through the next few weeks. We’ll see later on Tuesday if they brought in any players for visits and tryouts. UPDATE: They didn’t.
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