Lions Week 4 Bubble Watch: Defensive Players Lower on Depth Chart

These defensive players need to showcase more to remain on the Lions roster.

Detroit Lions cornerback Steven Gilmore (24) / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK

Upon review of the Lions' roster, many of the players have already cemented their spot on the 53-man roster. With a couple weeks remaining of training camp, there still are a handful of spots to be earned on defense.

Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn made it a point this week to emphasize that even though there are better players on the roster, his job remains to develop players and aid them to understand what the defense is trying to accomplish.

“I would say this first, as a coach in general, your job is, one, to develop the players, get the players to understand exactly what you want to do schematically, but also to protect the players, also," said Glenn. "So you hear this jargon of, ‘Okay, so AG gets a chance to do what he wants to do.’ AG’s going to do exactly what he can do with the players that he has and to protect the players.

"So, I would say that first, and then once you start to inject players that have a certain talent, then you continue to evolve and make sure you do things that you know that you like to do. So, I will say that, and we have a number of those players," Glenn commented further. "The defensive backs that we brought in really fit my personality on how we want to get ready to play. The defensive linemen that we have, they really fit the personality of how we want to play. So I’m excited to be able to do some things that I think overall as an organization that we want to do because we’re an aggressive offense, we’re an aggressive special teams and we want to be aggressive on defense also.”

Here is a look at players at each position on defense that need to showcase more, as training camp is heading toward the final stretch.

Defensive line

Chris Smith, Pat O'Connor, Mathieu Betts, Mitchell Agude, James Houston

Detroit's coaching staff have tried to work Betts and Agude at SAM linebacker to determine their level of versatility.

Betts has had to have some taken off his plate, due to the demands of playing outside linebacker in Glenn's scheme.

Glenn noted that Agude has the ability to come off the edge due to his size, length and athleticism.

Those on the bubble, including Betts, must consistently demonstrate they can execute the fundamentals and be consistent even in pressure packed moments on the road.

The player that may be a surprise on the roster bubble is Houston. The team attempted to expand his responsibilities but unfortunately found the SAM linebacker spot too cumbersome of a task for Houston to excel consistently.

While he has the potential to be an elite pass rusher, he needs to showcase those traits again the next couple of weeks.

Bubble Watch: Lions Offensive Players Lower on Depth Chart

Linebackers

Malik Jefferson, Abraham Beauplan, Ty Summers, Ben Niemann

It seems like a very uphill climb for any linebackers on the bubble to crack the roster, as Malcolm Rodriguez and Jalen Reeves-Maybin add special teams value.

Unfortunately, Rodriguez has missed practice time this week, so it will worth monitoring to observe his participation level ahead of the preseason finale against the Steelers next week.

Cornerbacks

Steven Gilmore, Essang Bassey, Kindle Vildor, Kahlil Dorsey, Javelin Guidry

It will be intruging to monitor if the Lions keep five or six defensive backs this season.

This past week, Dorsey and Vildor have put their best foot forward in their efforts to make the roster. Vildor was observed locking up Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams this week and is likely in the lead to be the sixth defensive back, behind Terrion Arnold, Carlton Davis, Ennis Rakestraw, Amik Roberston and Dorsey.

Safeties

Loren Strickland, Chelen Garnes

Prior to signing with the Falcons, many supporters clamored for the Lions to sign veteran safety Justin Simmons.

With the emergence of Brandon Joseph, the team feels comfortable and is pretty set at the safety spot, as the aforementioned defensive back, along with Kerby Joseph, C.J. Moore, Ifeatu Melifonwu and Brian Branch have all but guaranteed a roster spot.