Discussion: Should the Lions have went all-in for a pass rusher?

Everywhere you turn, everywhere you go, it’s Micah Parsons. It’s Micah Parsons and the great case of “Why hasn’t Brad Holmes done something to improve the Detroit Lions pass rush?!”

Today’s Question of the Day is:

Should the Lions have went all-in for a pass rusher?

My answer: Everyone’s going to define “all-in” differently, so let’s tackle that first and foremost. Today’s discussion is obviously borne out of the Green Bay Packers acquiring Micah Parsons, a move that could definitely be characterized as going “all-in.” So, there’s our baseline: two first-round draft picks and Kenny Clark. Erik Schlitt outlined the pros and cons of the move on Thursday after the news dropped, but since news of the deal broke, the takeaways have been plentiful:

• Are the Packers the new favorites, not just in the NFC North, but the conference at large?
• How could the Dallas Cowboys accept such a pitiful return for a player of Parsons’ ability?
• Should the Lions have made a move for Myles Garrett, Maxx Crosby, T.J. Watt, or even Micah Parsons? Has their Super Bowl window closed?

Before trying to critique the Lions’ inaction by the Packers’ move to acquire Micah Parsons, a couple of things. Parsons is one of the best defensive players in football, full stop. In his four years, Parsons has made four Pro Bowls, won Defensive Player of the Year (and Defensive Rookie of the Year) in 2021, been a two-time All-Pro, and has 52.5 sacks. He dramatically improves the Packers’ defense; a rising tide lifts all boats, and a pass rusher the caliber of Parsons improves players around him, especially on the backend. If there was a player worth going “all-in” for, it would be a 26-year-old pass rusher with the résumé and promise of Parsons.

Green Bay paid two first-round draft picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark to acquire Parsons, which was mostly touted as a paltry price for a player of his stature. It isn’t as insignificant as many are making it out to be. Clark isn’t the run defender many once considered to be among the best in the NFL, but he’s still a plus-player at this stage of his career. Since 2021, no one along Green Bay’s defensive line has played more snaps in run defense. He’s had the most pressures among interior defenders in Green Bay for the last seven seasons, and he’s just now entering his age-30 season. There isn’t a team in the league who wouldn’t roster Clark and welcome his contributions.

The contract Parsons signed with the Packers is massive, and combined with Jordan Love, the two are the first pair of teammates to be paid $100+ million AAV in a single season. In 2027, they’ll account for nearly 23% of the team’s cap. It’s a huge investment financially, especially when you consider the draft picks and the cost-controlled talent the Packers had to include. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell put together a rough estimate of the total incurred cost taken on by Green Bay in the move for Micah:

Ben Baldwin’s non-quarterback draft value chart attempts to place a number on what each pick in the draft is worth. If we operate conservatively and assume that the Packers will send the 24th pick in the 2026 and 2027 drafts to the Cowboys, without any future draft discounts, that’s an additional $18.2 million per year in opportunity costs that the Packers are assuming by making this trade. You can quibble with the figure, of course, but one thing I can say for sure is that valuing the picks as being worth $0 is wrong.

You have to include the value of what it took to acquire Parsons as part of these numbers. And with the cost of those picks added on top of his deal, Parsons will cost the Packers more than $65 million per season over the next four years. The four-time Pro Bowler will make more, at least implicitly, than any other player in the game — his old teammate Prescott included — and twice as much as Bosa, who was the highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL a few months ago.

I’ve seen everything from “I’d have liked to see the Lions make this move just so the Packers couldn’t have done it” to “Who cares about the contract—Detroit has to pay Aidan Hutchinson soon anyway, so they’ll be in the same predicament.” Which, no, they’ll be able to extend Hutchinson and other key draft picks Brad Holmes has hit on next summer—and they’ll still have their first-round picks in 2026 and 2027. Had Detroit given up a similar package, they would have likely included a talent similar to Alex Anzalone/DJ Reader. You’d expect both of those players to be valuable contributors in Detroit this season.

People’s growing frustration with Holmes not “getting someone opposite of Hutch” has morphed into the free space on Lions—and the NFL media’s—bingo cards. Last year, Rashan Gary posted 47 pressures in 17 games played and finished t-31st among edge defenders. The addition of Parsons will certainly draw lots of attention and provide more one-on-one opportunities for other defenders, but after last season, when Levi Onwuzurike had 45 pressures in 16 games—11 of those games were without Hutchinson. Alim McNeill recorded 45 pressures in 14 games, nine of them were without Detroit’s star edge rusher on the field. Onwuzurike is out for the season, McNeill might return in late October from his ACL injury, so in the immediate, Detroit does need someone to step up. But getting Hutchinson back in and of itself is going to have a Parsons-like effect on the rest of the defense.

Holmes staying the course and not sacrificing future flexibility wasn’t a necessity, like it was for Green Bay, because they swung and missed on Lukas Van Ness with the 13th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Gary hasn’t been quite the same player since his ACL tear in 2022. The Packers were desperate to upgrade their pass rush, and got a little lucky that Jerry Jones botched the relationship with his best defensive player on the roster since Hall of Famer DeMarcus Ware over a decade ago.

What do you think? Should the Lions have made an aggressive, all-in move for a pass rusher like the Packers? Do you see them surpassing the Lions as favorites in the NFC North? If the Lions and Za’Darius Smith agree to a contract before the end of the weekend, how much does that change the narrative? Let us know in the comments.