Rookie fifth-round pick Keith Abney II has played just 25 snaps on defense the first four games of the season as he works his way into the defensive back rotation at cornerback and safety.

His name was mentioned twice this week by coaches. Head coach Dan Campbell mentioned Abney on Wednesday when talking about potential personnel shakeups on defense for Week 5 against Arizona.

"Yeah, I think Abney will probably help us out a little bit more here this week," Campbell said.

It came up again Thursday during defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard's weekly press conference.

"I think I mentioned this to y'all at some point during training camp that he was one of the smartest rookies I had ever been around," Sheppard said of Abney.

"During training camp and really the offseason, we started to see a player that could grasp the system really fast and play at multiple spots. But we didn't want to put too much on him. So, we waited to training camp and we saw this kind of Swiss Army Knife."

Abney, a fifth-round pick by Detroit in the 2026 NFL Draft, played almost exclusively press-man outside cornerback at Arizona State. The Lions saw the football IQ and physicality to move inside to the nickel, and he played almost exclusively there in training camp. Over the past few weeks, he's worked a lot at safety, which gives Sheppard some position flexibility.

"We saw a player we thought we could flex inside at the nickel, and he's shown that," Sheppard said. "But also, we thought a player that could flex some at the safety spot and kind of be this three-position kind of player at the game."

That kind of versatility holds a ton of value when we talk about the 46-man gameday roster.

"It's a great opportunity," Abney said Thursday after practice. "This is definitely what you want. A great opportunity in front of me. Got to go execute and take advantage of this opportunity.

"As far as what that's going to look like on gameday. I'd say me moving around a little bit. Little bit of nickel, little bit of safety, maybe corner if need be. Whatever coach wants me to do that's what I'm going to go out and do and execute what I got to do."

The Lions are looking to shake some things up in the back end defensively. Detroit enters Sunday ranked 31st in points allowed, 32nd in total defense and 32nd against the pass. Abney could be part of that equation with a little bit bigger role against the Cardinals.

"We've just been progressing and progressing and progressing him until we feel like it's right," Sheppard said. "Whether that's this week, we all will see. But I do see him having an impact at some point here in the very soon near future to help us."

FINDING ANSWERS ON DEFENSE

The numbers haven't been good for Detroit's defense across the board. Campbell knows it. Sheppard know it. The players on that side of the football know it.

Instead of focusing on who is to blame for it, the focus at the Meijer Performance Center this week has been on finding answers to correct it.

"Whether that's personnel driven, whether that's some things come out, whatever the case is, something has to change," Sheppard said Thursday. "Because coming out of training camp, this is far from where we thought we would be at and should be at, and I still do, standing here before you after the four-game sample size."

The Lions have one more game in Arizona on Sunday against the Cardinals before a bye week where the entire coach staff and front office can sit down and assess the problem in-depth to find longer-term solutions. Before that, the defensive players get one more chance to fix some of the issues.

"I do feel like we're right there at this wall right now and banging on this wall," Sheppard said. "And I said there's going to be a group of men that bust this (expletive) down. And some guys probably going to be with us and some aren't.

"But the guys that are hard, that see the other side of this thing, I think we all are going to be proud of you, the fan base and everybody that represents the Detroit Lions brand."

EXTRA POINTS

• It was good to see defensive lineman Tyleik Williams back on the practice field Thursday after sitting out Wednesday's practice with a foot injury. Detroit's defensive front has played terrific to start the year.
• Detroit signed defensive lineman Jeffrey M'Ba to their practice squad Thursday. M'ba played collegiately at Auburn, Purdue and SMU, and was most recently on the Washington Commanders practice squad before being released Wednesday.