The Detroit Lions should take a shot at a former 3rd round edge rusher with a ton of upside

The Detroit Lions didn't do anything in terms of edge rusher outside of the signing of Marcus Davenport. That just can't be it right? The Lions could use some more help. There's a player out there in free agency that has some tremendous upside and is still young enough to see where that upside can go. That's Myjai Sanders. 

Sanders was a third-round pick by the Cardinals in the 2022 NFL Draft. He got out to a strong start in Arizona when they let him play. He played 13 games and started four of them. He notched three sacks and 17 pressures on 260 snaps. T

In 2023 the expectation was that he would see the playing field a lot more and then the Cardinals hired Jonathan Gannon. Sanders didn't fit what Gannon wanted on defense. Then he injured his hand early into training camp and the Cardinals essentially let his return clock almost run out before waiving him in October. 

The Texans claimed him and he played seven games down the stretch and two in the playoffs for Houston. He played pretty well for them too despite playing limited snaps on a crowded defensive line. 

Now he's a 25-year-old free agent that a team is going to eventually sign ahead of training camp. That team should be the Lions for multiple reasons. 

The first being new Lions defensive line coach Terrell Williams. We've seen Williams work with players and make them better for years now. Denico Autry is a perfect example. He was an ok player  until he got to Tennessee and played the best three years of his career. Last season he had 11.5 sacks and signed a big deal with the Texans this offseason. 

Williams can get his hands on the still very young Sanders and develop that upside and make him the best player he can be. This is why Williams is here now, to develop young talent. 

The other reason is that the Lions defensive line isn't super crowded on the edges. Aidan Hutchinson is holding down one side, but we don't know what the other side looks like just yet, There's Davenport, John Cominsky, Josh Paschal and James Houston. They're all in a rotation right now and there's no guarantees that they all make the team in August. 

The final reason is because this is something the Lions have been great at. They've taken players that were forgotten or were expected to go on the downturn and made them into good players. They did it with Kalif Raymond, Josh Reynolds, John Comnisky, Jared Goff, Alex Anzalone and Graham Glasgow. They'll likely do it with other players in 2024. Myjai Sanders should be one of those players.