The Detroit Lions have had so much success the last two seasons in can be hard to see smaller negatives that don’t involve disappointing playoff losses. As 2025 free agency looms there are some clear roster needs to be filled as they look to get over the hump and go to (and/or win) a Super Bowl.
Brad Holmes simply does not miss much in the draft. But no general manager has a flawless record, as factors beyond anyone’s control (namely injuries) play a role in why a player doesn’t pan out. Sometimes it’s simpler, like when a player just doesn’t have it to be anything more than a mediocre NFL player and others usurp them.
The list is not long, but these Lions players can be called busts now that the 2024 season in the books.
Lions players who can be called busts after the 2024 season
3. DT Brodric Martin
The Lions parted with three Day 3 draft picks to move up and get Martin in the top-100 (No. 96 overall) of the 2023 draft. It was known he was a project coming out of Western Kentucky, and a knee injury in the 2024 preseason finale kept him on IR until November to derail hopes for any kind of breakthrough in his second season. But he was a regular healthy scratch late in the season and played in just two games, with 23 of his 25 defensive snaps coming in a game where the Lions were very depleted by injuries up front.
Martin played just three games and 28 snaps in his “redshirt” rookie season. What his role will be in 2025 is at best unclear, but it’s unlikely the Lions will be banking on anything from him. It’s not a stretch to tab him, even this early, as someone who will be on the roster bubble entering training camp. Maybe new defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers can get something out of him Terrell Williams couldn’t, but the miss on Martin looks to be cemented already.
2. S Ifeatu Melifonwu
Melifonwu will always have the distinction of being the player the Lions took with the first draft pick from the Matthew Stafford trade. Unfortunately, injuries have been the primary story of his four NFL seasons, including a 2024 campaign where he had two stints on IR. It’s worth noting his preseason ankle injury probably should have landed him on IR sooner than it did, and maybe he could have suited up sooner before a dislocated finger put him right back on IR.
The bottom line is Melifionwu has played in 37 out of a possible 68 regular season games, and his breakthrough stretch late in the 2023 season was ultimately a tease he couldn’t pay off this past season. He’s now a free agent, and the Lions’ decision to bring him back or not is very easy.
1. DE Josh Paschal
Injuries gave Paschal a mulligan over his first two seasons. The 2024 season was lined up as a critical one for him, and he was mostly healthy (14 games, 10 starts, 549 defensive snaps). You’re excused if you didn’t really notice him though, with both of his sacks and four of his five tackles for loss for the season coming before Thanksgiving.
Pro Football Focus credited Paschal with a not-awful 34 quarterback pressures this past season, but his pass-rush win rate (5.5 percent) and overall PFF grade were both outside the top-100 among edge rushers.
There was some projectability with Paschal when the Lions took him 46th overall in the 2022 draft. But he hasn’t proven to be anything more than a solid (at times) run defender, with very little pass rush juice to offer for a defense that has sorely needed it from someone not named Aidan Hutchinson.
Paschal may get bumped down the depth chart this offseason, but he will broadly get one last shot in the final year of his rookie contract. Barring a massive turnaround, he’ll get a change of scenery he probably needs around a year from now.
