LB Malcolm Rodriguez<\/a><\/p>\nExpectations heading into 2025<\/p>\n
Expectations were relatively low for Maddox, considering his exit with the Philadelphia Eagles. After years of up-and-down play, Maddox was surpassed by rookie Cooper DeJean. At 29 years old, Maddox appeared to be nearing the end of his career, but his versatility in playing outside corner, nickel, and even some reps as a dime safety.<\/p>\n
But with a cornerback room that featured Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, Amik Robertson, Ennis Rakestraw, Rock Ya-Sin, and Khalil Dorsey, Maddox faced an uphill battle to even make the roster, let alone find time on the field.<\/p>\n
However, when training camp started, Maddox began getting reps at safety, as the Lions were much thinner over there. With only Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph clearly ahead of him on the depth chart, it became clear Maddox likely had a path to the 53-man roster, despite his limited experience at the position.<\/p>\n
Note: PFF rankings reflect a minimum 20% snaps at that position. <\/p>\n
14 games (3 starts): 32 tackles, 4 passes defended, 1 INT, 1 forced fumble342 defensive snaps, 88 special teams snaps<\/p>\n
PFF defensive grade: 79.1 (10th out of 107)
PFF run defense grade: 75.8 (28th out of 107)
PFF coverage grade: 75.0 (t-12th out of 107)
PFF special teams grade: 67.3<\/p>\n
Maddox, indeed, made the team, although he was challenged for the primary backup safety spot by waiver wire pickup Thomas Harper. When Kerby Joseph went down early in the year, it was Harper who stepped in. But a month later, when Brian Branch suffered a torn Achilles, it was Maddox\u2019s turn to step up.<\/p>\n
Forced into the game against the Cowboys, Maddox was outstanding, totalling eight tackles, a pass defense, and a 90.3 PFF grade in 80 snaps despite not going into the game as a starter.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaddox went in there for him the other day, and we thought he did a hell of a job, he really did,\u201d Dan Campbell said after the game. \u201cI mean, he played his tail off, which is why he\u2019s here, because he\u2019s a football guy. He\u2019s got versatility, nickel that can play safety. Man, he put out a lot of fires back there for us, made quite a few plays.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Maddox didn\u2019t continue that extremely high level of play the rest of the season, he was pretty darn reliable, posting a PFF grade of 83 or higher in two of the other three starts he made.<\/p>\n
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent<\/p>\n
First of all, the Lions need safeties. With Joseph\u2019s future unknown and Branch likely to miss the start of the season, Detroit could theoretically have both starting jobs open in Week 1 of 2026. Maddox now has experience in Detroit\u2019s scheme and proof of reliability in a starting role.<\/p>\n
Additionally, Maddox has demonstrated he\u2019s a team player worthy of the Lions\u2019 culture. Not only did he go through a position change, but he also played a healthy dose of special teams, something that not every veteran is willing to do.<\/p>\n
There aren\u2019t many. I suppose the Lions could invest their resources into a younger option who could provide more long-term stability at the safety position, but signing Maddox wouldn\u2019t prevent that from happening.<\/p>\n
Is there interest from both sides?<\/p>\n
For one, Maddox is a Detroit native and seemed to enjoy his time with the team. Seeing as there\u2019s an opportunity for playing time and hopes for a Super Bowl, it\u2019s hard to imagine any other destination more ideal for Maddox.<\/p>\n
From the Lions\u2019 side, they clearly were impressed by his level of play last year.<\/p>\n
This should be another benefit of re-signing Maddox: he\u2019ll come relatively cheap.<\/p>\n
Last year, he signed with the Lions at the vet minimum with just over $1 million guaranteed. I believe he\u2019s earned a raise this year, but he should still be considered a cost-effective signing somewhere in the $2-3 million range. That is exactly the type of signing the Lions love to make, and it allows them to focus on bigger areas of need.<\/p>\n
To me, this is one of the bigger no-brainers when it comes to the Lions\u2019 decisions with their own free agents. Maddox is a local, he proved he can be a starting safety in this scheme, he\u2019s low-cost, and if everything works out with Detroit\u2019s health at safety, you\u2019d love to still have Maddox there as reliable depth.<\/p>\n
I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if this was one of the first re-signings the Lions take care of before free agency even opens up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just a year ago, the Detroit Lions\u2019 safety situation looked set for the future. With Kerby Joseph and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,449,11309,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-733608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroit-lions-analysis","11":"tag-detroit-lions-free-agency","12":"tag-detroitlions","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-lions","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116024114332331821","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}