20man: This is one of the things I'm most excited to see when the team starts opening OTA practices to the media later this month. I talked with head coach Dan Campbell about this extensively at the Annual League Meetings in Arizona earlier this offseason as he, defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard and the entire defensive staff did a deep dive into the cut-ups last year and came to the conclusion they need to be more versatile.
Like I talked about earlier, several of the defensive adds this offseason in free agency and the draft really feature position versatility and players with multiple skillsets. The Lions played more base defense than any team in the NFL last year and I wouldn't be surprised if we see that percentage drop some this season as Sheppard looks to be more multiple.
"You're like, 'Alright, what did we do well? What did we not? Where did we go from here? This is who we lost. Here's some pieces that we added. What do we need?'" Campbell said back in late March referencing those meetings with Sheppard and the defensive staff. "And so really, the way Shep's done it – which I love – is we've kind of given ourselves options.
"We've got kind of three options as to where we can go with this. Are we more of this four-down (front)? Do we become more five down? Do we become more nickel depending on – so we've got some flexibility here ready. It's already built into the install for Shep, like, 'Alright. I can go three ways here with my personnel. It's still the same install, but now we've got the pieces to put them where we want, whether that's a nickel, it's a big end, it's a linebacker. So we're kind of flexible here."