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    • 7 trade targets for the Detroit Lions
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    7 trade targets for the Detroit Lions

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    The Detroit Lions defeated the Dallas Cowboys 47-9 on Sunday, but that’s not the main talking point coming out of the Week 6 loss.

    The Lions’ top defensive player, Aidan Hutchinson, underwent surgery for a broken tibia in his left leg after suffering the injury on a Dak Prescott sack early in the third quarter on Sunday. Super Bowl 59 is less than four months away from taking place in New Orleans on February 9, putting Hutchinson’s season in jeopardy.

    With Hutchinson out indefinitely, how can the Lions — 4-1 and one game behind Minnesota in the NFL’s top division — replace his immense void and production from the defensive end position? What could Lions general manager Brad Holmes do to boost his pass rush rotation?

    Here’s a quick look at who the Lions could draft from their current roster, and a potentially robust trade market at edge rusher.

    REQUIRED READING: Lions look like Super Bowl favorite vs. Cowboys, but loss of Aidan Hutchinson is incalculable

    When is the 2024 NFL Trade Deadline?

    The 2024 deadline is Tuesday, November 5, one day after week 9. The Lions play in Minnesota, vs. Tennessee and in Green Bay in the next three weeks leading up to the deadline.

    Lions internal candidates to replace Aidan Hutchinson

    The Lions have already suffered major injuries at the edge position this season, under Marcus Davenport (triceps) and Derrick Barnes (knee), and John Cominsky (knee) until late in the season. Here are the Lions’ other fringe players.

    • Josh Paschalis: A 2022 second-round pick out of Kentucky who has just three sacks in 27 career games for the Lions. He is 24 years old, 6-foot-4 and 274 pounds and was the starter opposite Hutchinson.
    • Isaac Ukwu: A 25-year-old undrafted rookie free agent who had a strong preseason after spending his seventh and final college season at Ole Miss. Ukwu is 6-3, 265. He was fired despite three sacks in three preseason games, but the team re-signed him to the practice squad and made his NFL debut against the Cowboys.
    • James Houston: A 25-year-old 2022 sixth-round pick out of Jackson State. Houston, a small pass rush specialist at 6-1, 245, had eight sacks in just seven games as a rookie but has failed to make an impact since and was inactive for Sunday’s win against the Cowboys while Ukwu was active. Houston missed most of last season with a broken leg and played just 17 defensive snaps in two games this year. In Week 4, he was flagged twice for offside in 14 snaps.
    • Levi Onwuzurike: Holmes’ second choice as GM in Round 2 in 2021, Onwuzurike was selected by teammates as a breakout player this season. The 26-year-old already has a career-high five QB hits this season and his 1½ sacks are career-high. Onwuzurike is 6-3, 290 and can line up on the inside as well as on the perimeter. He missed all of 2022 due to a back injury.
    • Mitchell Agude: The 25-year-old Agude, a ‘prodigy’ who recovered from a skateboarding accident as a youngster, has not played any role this season. He joined the Lions’ practice squad just over a year ago, was waived in August and then re-signed to the practice squad.

    TRENDING: Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson remains overnight in Dallas with ‘frightening’ leg injury

    Lions trade candidates to replace Aidan Hutchinson

    Maxx Crosby, Las Vegas Raiders

    The Eastern Michigan graduate would be a boon to the Lions defense. EMU this summer renamed the football field Crosby Field at Rynearson Stadium in Crosby’s honor. He is in the second year of a four-year, $94 million contract and has made three straight Pro Bowls. Crosby, 27, has 5½ sacks in five games for the Raiders (2-4) this season, after compiling a career-high 14½ last season and 12½ in 2022. He led the NFL in tackles for loss in 2023 with 23 TFL, and in 2022 with 22 TFL.

    Crosby, in his sixth season as a fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2019, pushed Raiders assistant coach Mike Caldwell with two hands on the chest during sunday’s week 6 loss to pittsburgh but tried to downplay the incident afterward as a “love push, stop reaching.”

    Haason Reddick, New York Jets

    Reddick is embroiled in a bizarre contract dispute with the Jets (2-3) and has yet to play after being traded from Philadelphia for a third-round pick in the spring. He’s cost himself millions so far, and his agency parted ways with him after he turned down a reworked one-year contract with the Jets. Reddick, 30, has had four straight seasons of double-digit sacks, including 11 last season with the Eagles. He made the Pro Bowl the past two seasons and his three-year, $45 million deal expires after this season.

    Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati Bengals

    Hendrickson, 29, had 17½ sacks last season and has made three straight Pro Bowls. He has had at least 24 QB hits in four consecutive seasons, and has five sacks in 2024. He requested a trade in April, seeking a long-term contract, and will make $14.8 million in 2024 and $15.8 million in 2025. Cincinnati still considers itself a contender at 2-4, but if they continue to falter, Hendrickson could be a trade candidate. He was a third-round pick by New Orleans in 2017.

    Von Miller, Buffalo Bills

    The 35-year-old has already been forced to take a pay cut for the season by the Bills (3-2), and he is out through Week 8 following a four-game suspension for violating the league’s personal conduct policy. He has three sacks in four games this season. He had zero sacks in 12 appearances last season when returning from a torn ACL during Thanksgiving vs. the Lions in 2022. Miller may not be a fit for the Lions after turning himself in to police in November 2023 on an arrest warrant for third-degree assault of a pregnant woman. No charges were filed, but according to a police statement, Miller put his hand on the woman’s neck during an argument, pushed her and pulled out some of her hair. Miller called the allegations “100% false.”

    Three others were mentioned as trade candidates by Pro Football Focus last week

    • Emmanuel Ogbah, Miami Dolphins: “The 30-year-old has been solid this year, with a PFF run defense grade of 64.4 and 10 pressures on just 208 total snaps.”
    • Deatrich Wise Jr., New England Patriots: “Wise is in almost an identical situation as Ogbah: a veteran, pending free-agent edge rusher on a team that doesn’t seem anywhere near contention in 2024. The 30-year-old is coming off quite a season the back as a rotational rusher, with seven pressures and an overall grade of 54.8 PFF.” Has had 99 pressures over the past three seasons and is tied for 42nd.
    • Jamin Davis, Washington commanders: “The former first-round pick hasn’t lived up to the hype as a pro, and his 2024 hasn’t been particularly encouraging. Davis, a linebacker and edge rusher, has just a PFF grade of 65.0 and hasn’t yet done registered a pressure on only 70 total snaps.”

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