The Detroit Lions are reportedly planning to sign a young pass rusher from the Bengals’ practice squad.
Here comes some defensive end help for the Detroit Lions. According to a report from ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler, the Lions are planning to sign Isaiah Thomas off of the Bengals’ practice squad.
Thomas was a seventh-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2022. He spent the first two years of his career there in Cleveland, playing 10 games in his rookie season, earning a 51.0 overall PFF grade while producing eight pressures and one sack on a total of 74 pass rushing snaps. He spent his entire 2023 season on the team’s practice squad before being waived in the final round of cuts in 2024. Shortly thereafter, the Bengals signed Thomas to their practice squad, where he has remained for the first six weeks of the season.
At 6-foot-5, 266 pounds, Thomas certainly fits the physical profile of what the Lions like in their edge defenders. He’s big, physical, and has some speed to his game, as well.
Isaiah Thomas was drafted with pick 223 of round 7 in the 2022 draft class. He scored a 9.16 RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 128 out of 1503 DE from 1987 to 2022. https://t.co/0bNqEmAinA #RAS #Browns pic.twitter.com/5zZpcNenxm
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 30, 2022
Back in college, Thomas produced 16.5 sacks in his final two years at Oklahoma, earning back-to-back All-Big 12 second-team honors.
7th-round pick Isaiah Thomas (58) hitting Bengals LT Jonah Williams with that club/swipe was so clean. Williams was not prepared for it. Completely removes the LT’s outside hand placement. Huge sack that pushed the FG back and led to a miss. #Browns pic.twitter.com/DnGnp2sLVu
— Jake Burns (@jake_burns18) November 1, 2022
Because the Lions are signing Thomas off another team’s practice squad, he must join the Lions’ 53-man roster. In fact, they also have to guarantee at least three weeks of his salary, regardless of whether he stays on the roster or not.
The Lions obviously looking for edge rusher help after losing several players to significant injury. Last week, the Lions lost leading sacker Aidan Hutchinson for the long term, and they’re also going to be without Marcus Davenport, Derrick Barnes, and John Cominsky for a long time.
