{"id":58040,"date":"2025-08-04T16:25:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/58040\/"},"modified":"2025-08-04T16:25:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T16:25:09","slug":"lions-bubble-watch-week-3-rock-ya-sin-changes-secondary-makeup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/58040\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions Bubble Watch, Week 3: Rock Ya-Sin changes secondary makeup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions<\/a> defense faces a lot of questions in 2025. And after the Lions\u2019 preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>, not many of them have been answered.<\/p>\n

However, the emergence of Rock Ya-Sin has provided some clarity at cornerback, but could make the safety position look a little more muddied. Let\u2019s take a look at every player on the roster bubble on defense, and see who our staff thinks is currently IN the 53-man roster, and who still has work to do. <\/p>\n

See our latest predictions on offense here.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Edge defender:<\/p>\n

Assumed in: Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport<\/p>\n

Voting: <\/p>\n

Ahmed Hassanein: 11 votes (no change)
\nJosh Paschal: 11 votes (up 3)
\nAl-Quadin Muhammad: 10 \u201cIN\u201d votes (down 1)
\nNate Lynn: 1 votes (up 1)
\nMitchell Agude: 0 votes (no change)
\nIsaac Ukwu: 0 votes (no change)<\/p>\n

The EDGE room is fairly straightforward, but the tipping point may be what the Lions decide to do with Josh Paschal, who currently remains on the NFI list. This past week, coach Dan Campbell gave an update that convinced the last of our staffers to put him in the initial 53-man roster. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re hoping early September we get him in practice and I think he\u2019s going to need a couple of weeks to practice before we can expect him to play for us. So, I don\u2019t really know then, but right now he\u2019s still on schedule to hopefully be ready. He\u2019s on schedule to be ready for early September to start practicing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do the Lions activate him prior to the season in order to get those practices in? Or do they keep him on NFI, essentially preventing him from practicing and playing during all of September? <\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Nate Lynn picked up a vote after a strong preseason game that included a team-leading three quarterback pressures. <\/p>\n

Defensive tackle:<\/p>\n

Assumed in: DJ Reader, Tyleik Williams, Roy Lopez <\/p>\n

Assumed out: Alim McNeill (PUP), Levi Onwuzurike (PUP)<\/p>\n

Removed from Bubble Watch: DT Raequan Williams (cut) <\/p>\n

Voting: <\/p>\n

Pat O\u2019Connor: 11 votes (no change)
\nMekhi Wingo: 10 votes (no change)
\nKeith Cooper Jr.: 0 vote (down 1)
\nBrodric Martin: 0 votes
\nChris Smith: 0 votes<\/p>\n

Wingo is in a similar situation to Paschal, so it\u2019s entirely possible he starts the year on PUP. If so, someone is going to have to step up because our staff is buying into the team\u2019s depth right now. <\/p>\n

Linebacker<\/p>\n

Assumed in: Jack Campbell, Alex Anzalone, Derrick Barnes, Grant Stuard <\/p>\n

Assumed out: Malcolm Rodriguez (PUP)
\nTrevor Nowaske: 11 votes (no change)
\nZach Cunningham: 11 (up 1)
\nEzekiel Turner: 0 votes (down 1)
\nAnthony Pittman: 0 votes (no change)<\/p>\n

It was a night to forget for pretty much every Lions linebacker against the Chargers in the preseason opener. Despite that, we\u2019re sticking with Nowaske and Cunningham for the fifth and sixth spots on the roster. Nowaske is Detroit\u2019s best SAM linebacker depth and can bring it on special teams. Cunningham has the veteran experience to help cover while Malcolm Rodriguez rehabs from injury. <\/p>\n

Cornerbacks: <\/p>\n

Assumed in: Terrion Arnold, D.J. Reed, Amik Robertson, Ennis Rakestraw<\/p>\n

Voting: <\/p>\n

Khalil Dorsey: 11 votes (no change)
\nRock Ya-Sin: 11 votes (up 5)
\nErick Hallett: 0 votes (no change)<\/p>\n

Ya-Sin sees the biggest jump of any defensive player, and it isn\u2019t much of a surprise. He was excellent in the preseason game, notching two big open field tackles while remaining sound in coverage. Additionally, he\u2019s been playing so well that the Lions are putting more on his plate. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe all like Rock. His work ethic, man. He\u2019s pretty tough, he\u2019s physical, he\u2019s headsy, and he\u2019s versatile,\u201d Campbell said Sunday. \u201cThere\u2019s a number of things he can do. We\u2019d like to start working him at some safety, too\u201d<\/p>\n

Ya-Sin got that extra work Sunday afternoon, and seems like he\u2019s getting closer and closer to being a roster lock. <\/p>\n

Safeties:<\/p>\n

Assumed in: Brian Branch, Kerby Joseph, Avonte Maddox<\/p>\n

Voting:<\/p>\n

Dan Jackson: 11 votes (up 1)
\nMorice Norris: 0 votes (down 3)
\nLoren Strickland: 0 votes (no change)
\nIan Kennelly: 0 votes (no change)<\/p>\n

Of note, votes were tallied before Jackson\u2019s injury at training camp on Sunday\u2014the severity of which is currently unknown. <\/p>\n

However, it appears Ya-Sin\u2019s success, plus his testing out at safety, has come at the expense of Morice Norris\u2019 roster spot, according to our staff. Loren Strickland got early work in the preseason game, but struggled at time. Ian Kennelly was a standout in the game, but it\u2019s going to be tough for any undrafted rookie to crack the roster. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions defense faces a lot of questions in 2025. And after the Lions\u2019 preseason game against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[32048,1987,2120,2131,5192,2132,2130,424,2121,30173,349,573,2129,1740,34181,43769,99,12531,1975,11766],"class_list":["post-58040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-bubble","tag-changes","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-detroit-lions-opinion","tag-detroit-lions-roster","tag-detroit-lions-training-camp","tag-front-page","tag-lions","tag-makeup","tag-nfl","tag-of","tag-pride","tag-rock","tag-secondary","tag-sin","tag-sports","tag-watch","tag-week","tag-ya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}