I decided to make a separate post on the Sheppard portion of the article.
The bolded section is by me as I think many folks don’t recall the good portion of the season.
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Defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard showed promise early in the season and, honestly, deserves a little more grace, given how he inherited this defense and most of its personnel from former DC Aaron Glenn. Sheppard’s unit was strong in more than half of Detroit’s contests before the bye week, but the wheels fell off down the stretch, allowing every opponent from Weeks 12-16 to score at least 27 points.
Should the Lions stray from their man-heavy, stack-the-box, crush-the-can approach on defense? It’d probably be wise, though difficult to do, considering the players on the roster. There is some opportunity for change, however, as a number of key defenders are becoming free agents, such as Alex Anzalone and Amik Robertson, as well as every defensive end outside of Aidan Hutchinson and Ahmed Hassanein. There wasn’t much wiggle room for Sheppard in 2025. He’s got a chance to make some alterations for 2026.