Marcus Davenport Is The EDGE RUSHER 2 The Lions Have Been Looking For!

Marcus de Marcus Davenport has quickly become one of the most controversial players on the Detroit Lions defensive side of the ball as well as one of the most controversial players on the entire roster many people believe that Marcus Davenport was brought in just to be a depth piece while other people believe that Marcus deavenport was brought in to be a full-time starting Edge rusher some people believe that some of the great Seasons we've seen from Marcus Davenport are still yet to come and that he can still have a good turnaround to his NFL career while some people believe that he's too injury-prone that he's not good enough that he hasn't developed enough that he will not by any means be the starter in Detroit now today we're going to take a look at Marcus Davenport take a look at all of the reasons that Marcus Davenport very well may not be the answer for the edge rusher two position for the Detroit Lions but we're also going to take a look at why the Detroit Lions signed Marcus Davenport to a one-year $10 million contract we're going to take a look at what Brad hommes saw in this last free agency cycle from Marcus Davenport and why he as well as a lot of the other coaches believe that Marcus Davenport could be the answer and why he is the likely starter to at least begin the 2024 NFL season now starting off Marcus deavenport as a prospect was the definition of a ball of clay a 6'6 265 pound Edge rusher with a 9.67 r score is a player that is always going to get taken in the first round we saw with Tyree Wilson a big monstrous defensive lineman with a good R score but very underdeveloped when as high as seventh overall to the Las Vegas Raiders just two years ago and Marcus Davenport was a very similar Prospect being selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft by the New Orleans sings Who traded up mind you to get the UTSA Prospect now Marcus devonport was a project player he was a raw player with a ton of upside he never really put up the biggest numbers at UTSA never really had the cleanest games at UTSA but he was a big athletic pass rusher with great athletic ability a lot of upside and if the defense could polish him he could have turned into one of the elite Edge rushers in the NFL he had every athletic ability had every athletic trait you were looking for in an edge rusher and just needed to clean up some technique some hand usage some footwork stuff and he could have been fantastic now in 2018 Marcus Davenport's rookie year was good but wasn't necessarily great he played in 13 games for the New Orleans Saints but didn't start a single one he had 22 tackles four and a half sacks six tackles for lost a forced fumble two passes defended and 12 quarterback hits but playing Just 48% of the defensive snaps when available for the team now again this wasn't a bad rookie season by any means and in fact Marcus devonport was named to the 2018 all rookie defense for the 2018 NFL draft class but a lot of saints fans thought with a 15th overall pick you want a little bit more production than just four and a half sacks in 2019 he took a sizable Step Up playing again in 13 games but starting all 13 of those games 31 tackles six sacks five tackles for loss three forced fumbles as as well as 16 quarterback hits while playing a much improved 61% of defensive snap so Marcus deavenport was a young player he was a project player but after two years he had 10 and a half sacks he was moving in the right direction he had four forced fumbles and he was a player that was making plays for the Saints defense even if he wasn't quite that 10 sack guy that a lot of people wanted him to turn into now in 2020 Marcus Davenport had a pretty poor season playing 11 games but starting zero and only coming away with a sack and a half but bounc back in 2021 where again he played in 11 games for the Saints but started a majority of them had nine sacks on the season 16 quarterback hits three forced fumbles as well as a fumble recovery well he looked like one of those players that was finally putting it all together in year four the last year of his rookie contract that everybody thought that Marcus Davenport had finally put it together and it led the New Orleans Saint to actually using the fifth year option on Marcus Davenport bringing him back for 2022 now unfortunately that didn't quite work out as Marcus Davenport didn't have a great 2022 signed with the Minnesota Vikings and didn't have a great 2023 either we've coming off of back-to-back years of Marcus Davenport having kind of a disappointing season now the reasons are different obviously in 2022 Marcus Davenport played in 11 games had less than two sacks on the season just wasn't a very good pass rusher for the Saints in 2023 signed with the Vikings had two sacks in his first four games but unfortunately fell injury or fell victim to a major injury which ended his 2023 campaign however he did look good in those two games he just wasn't quite able to be healthy for the entirety of the season and that brings us to today where the Detroit Lions in the 2024 offseason signed Marcus devonport to a one-year 10 million contract to come in and fight for the edge rushing two position now Marcus devonport has never been an edge rusher one right he's always been that edge rusher two and there's a lot of reasons while why people believe that Marcus Davenport isn't the guy for the Detroit Lions and the big one is the injury concern there's this idea that Marcus devonport has never been healthy there's this idea that every single year he ends the season on injured reserve that every single year he makes it a couple of games into the season and isn't a factor for his team and while he's never played 17 games and he's never played a full NFL season and those things are true there's only been one season in his NFL career which was last year that Marcus Davenport has played less than 11 games in an NFL season now yes Marcus Davenport does fight through injuries at times yes there are seasons where Marcus Davenport is injured for a lot of the year but still plays in fights to play with his team and play and impact his defense there are injury concerns that is certainly a factor that the Lions have to take in which is a big reason likely as to why Marcus devonport only saw a one-year contract and only saw a about A10 million hit where a lot of the other Edge rushers were getting bigger money even though they were older prospects right availability is the best ability in the NFL and unfortunately Marcus devonport has some questions when it comes to whether or not he can be a full-time starter and whether or not he can be an impact player for an entire season on top of that a lot of people think that Marcus Davenport isn't a true Edge rusher one or even really an edge rusher two he's always been the second or third option on a defense he's always had a Travis Hunter he he's always had a cam Jordan he's always had a denal hunter next to him and in Detroit that's going to be very similar that's all he needs to be right Aiden Hutchinson is The Edge rusher one Aiden Hutchinson is the alpha pass rusher he is the guy that's going to get you 11 12 13 plus sacks in a season and all Marcus Davenport has to do is win his one-on-one opportunities put some consistent pressure on the quarterback and be a consistent Factor even if at the end of 20124 you're only seeing Marcus Davin Port W with five to six sacks that's still a player that has been more impactful to the defense than we had last year on the defensive line right obviously last year the Lions pass rush took a hit when James Houston got hurt obviously you know John Kaminsky isn't the edge rusher to that we've been looking for Josh Pascal is not really the edge rusher to that we've been looking for so I think Marcus Davenport does bring quite a bit of value to this defense I think that he is a better pass rusher than Josh Pascal and John kamensky I think he's a better run Defender than a guy like James Houston which would likely lead the Detroit Lions to starting Marcus devonport in a lot of games even if he isn't going to play every snap even if he's going to rotate out with Pascal and Kaminsky and James Houston and even if he isn't going to be the full-time Edge rusher too I do think he will start a majority of the games opposite Aiden Hutchins and I think he will be an early down defensive end for the Detroit Lions somebody that they can trust to stop the run as well as rush the passer if it is you know a pass on first down or a run on first down they I think they trust Marcus Davenport's skill set to cope with both of those opportunities as opposed to having Pascal and Kaminsky for for obvious rushing downs and James Houston for obvious passing Downs I think Marcus devonport is kind of the happy medium between the three and I think that will lead to him getting quite a few snaps early in games and being quite impactful for what it is worth now will Marcus Devon Port be an edge rusher two that puts up eight to 10 sacks or an edge rusher two that puts up big numbers and gets big money next off season probably not there's a likelihood that Marcus Davenport plays between 11 to 13 games again this season puts up between six to eight sacks this year and goes off and gets another one maybe two-year contract for decent money but not Elite Edge rushing money but honestly that's all the Detroit Lions need out of their Edge rusher two right now they don't need a second Aiden Hutchinson they need a Marcus Davenport they need a guy that's going to put up six to eight sacks that's going to put you know 10 12 15 hits on the quarterback of season that's going to put consistent pressure on the quarterback when he's on the field and not be a liability in the run defense and that's the exact kind of player that Marcus Davenport is so yeah while on obvious pass rushing Downs James Houston might get the knot on obvious rushing Downs or on short yardage situations they might put pascalin over you know Marcus devonport they might put John Kaminsky in over Marcus Davenport but on first and second down on early downs and early football games Marcus Davenport's gonna get a lot of work and I wouldn't be surprised if we see Marcus Davenport get back to that you know six seven sack season get back to a you know consistent pass rusher for the Detroit Lions and potentially put up really good numbers as an edge rusher too and finally have a consistent threat across from Aiden Hutchinson with all of that being said that is all for you guys today let me know down in the comments below what you think about Marcus Davenport as a player what you think his role will be on the Detroit Lines and how much of an impact do you think he will have on the 2024 Lions defense the very curious you guys have disabled all of that being said that is if you guys right now if you have yet to subscrib to the channnel and you've made it this far in the video please consider subscribing obviously you like the Detroit Lions content and we come out with lions content daily so subscribe hit the Bell notification so you never miss an upload with that being said that's all I got for you guys right now thank you all so much for watching and until next time and as always go lions