ORLANDO, Fla. -- The NFC head coaches had their annual breakfast with reporters on Tuesday morning at the owners meetings. Dan Campbell, as always, was right on time. He strolled into a ballroom at the Ritz-Carlton, armed with coffee in one hand, a PR rep on the other shoulder, and marched to his chair at the head of the room.
A fitting seating assignment for one of the new power brokers in the NFL, and he’s felt the vibe change.
“Certainly there’s a lot more of people telling you congratulations and what a year,” the Detroit Lions head coach said after sitting down, “which you would do to them when they’ve had a heckuva year. But I also know what that is, too. And the guy who just said that, we’re on the schedule next year.”
Campbell then was asked for his thoughts on the dramatic changes to the kickoff rule (he’s very for it), then the hip-drop tackle ban (he understands it). Then the conversation made an inevitable turn toward the secondary, where the Lions did so much good work to surround struggling cornerback Cam Sutton with a true CB1 (Carlton Davis) and better depth (Amik Robertson) in the first days of free agency.
Of course, little did they know that Sutton was wanted by police at the time, and stands accused of domestic battery by strangulation, a third-degree felony here in Florida. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
That’s bad.
What’s strange: Sutton had been spending time in the Lions training facility during the weeks-long police hunt for him in Florida, and was in the building working out when police went public with the search warrant. The Lions found Sutton and instructed him to seek counsel and turn himself in.
Sutton left the building after that, and won’t be coming back. He was cut a day later.
And just like that, the Lions seemed to have another need at cornerback all over again.
“I think certainly there are some guys we’re still looking at in free agency that can bring in some competition,” Campbell said. “And that may or may not be done before the draft, you know? I mean that brings up a little more urgency for another player, for sure, that can compete. But then as far as everything else goes, we’re ready to go into the draft, you know? And see if we can come away with something in there.”
But just a couple hours later, general manager Brad Holmes met with reporters on a sunny terrace overlooking a plush pool where Sean McVay mingled with Mike McDaniel and Kevin O’Connell, while Brian Daboll was getting way too red for his own good.
Holmes, still dressed in a fine suit, seemed to contradict Campbell’s assessment at cornerback.
“It’s not a need,” the reigning NFL executive of the year said.
So how do the Lions really view their situation at cornerback? The bottom line is they were counting on Sutton next season, and believed they had set him up for better success by acquiring Davis to handle the CB1 role. Losing a projected starter like Sutton always hurts, and that’s especially true at a position like cornerback, where teams can never have enough of them.
To that end, Campbell’s right. There is urgency to add another outside cornerback for next season. That could happen in free agency or the draft.
But to Holmes’ point, the Lions also feel fortunate to have landed both Davis and Roberson when free agency opened, which helps blunt a loss that might have otherwise been catastrophic. Davis has been on Campbell’s radar for a long time -- they spent years going at it in the NFC South -- and Detroit threw away from Davis last season. In two games, including a divisional-round playoff, Jared Goff completed 5 of 9 passes for just 29 yards against Davis.
“We didn’t really want to throw at him,” Campbell said. “We knew he was a good cover guy, and he’ll tackle on the perimeter. There are just things he can do where he can take his side of the field away at times. Just to have some of that, man, goes a long way for the rest of the defense, and what (Aaron Glenn) is going to be able to call. Man, that’s going to help. And that’s really something we felt we haven’t had here since we’ve been here. So Brad did a hell of a job getting that trade done and getting it through.”
The trade went through on the first day of free agency. The Lions had also been in negotiations with Robertson, and figured those would end once Davis was added.
Robertson’s response: “Are we going to get this done or not?”
“His tape was outstanding,” Campbell said. “People say, ‘Well, he’s 5-8,’ but he doesn’t play like he’s 5-8. This guy plays like a big corner. He’s aggressive, he’s competitive, he’s got good man-cover skills, and he’s smart. He’s a ball guy, you know? He’s a football player. One of things I loved, we were going back and forth with Amik, and then we make the Carlton trade, and we’re like, ‘Well, we’re going to lose Amik. I mean, we just traded for a corner.’ He’s like, ‘Are we going to get this done or not?’
“He wanted to come. To him, he’s coming in to compete to start. He wants to come in and earn his right. I love that about this kid. He fits us 100%.”
The fit is the key. Like Davis, Robertson was at his best in man coverage in Las Vegas. Glenn likes playing man coverage too, but was forced to get away from it down the stretch last season due to the struggles in the back end. Adding these types of guys should allow the Lions to get back to what they want to do defensively.
Davis is expected to be CB1 next season, while Brian Branch returns in the slot and could add some safety-type assignments. On the other side of the field, Robertson is an experienced starter who will vie for the CB2 role. But don’t forget about Emmanuel Moseley either, who was a really productive CB2 in San Francisco before going through back-to-back ACL tears over the last couple seasons.
Moseley is on track to return to the team next season, and could compete for playing time.
“I still think he’s on track,” Holmes said. “The reason we were confident in re-signing him is because of how we felt with communication from our medical staff. When he did it last year, that was his first time going through something like that. I think he’s going to have an even better process this time around, because he’s been through it already once, and he can make whatever tweaks along the way. I’m not saying he needs to make tweaks, but he’ll be a lot more comfortable in the rehab process.”
With that, the Lions have options they like at cornerback. But just like every other team in the league, they believe you can never have enough of those guys, and losing Sutton is a hit to the depth they thought they had built. They could still sign another cornerback in the coming weeks and months, or certainly select a cornerback of the future in next month’s draft.
But they don’t feel like they have to, and that’s why Holmes believes it’s not an urgent need, even if Detroit could still use the help, like Campbell says.
“Look, when it comes to cornerbacks, you can never have enough of those guys,” Holmes said. “I don’t think that we’ve ever went through a draft where we didn’t draft one at least, whether it’s a corner or a nickel. But I’ve always thought it’s good business to at least acquire one. Again, you can never have enough of them.”