The Detroit Lions have a new starting safety duo Week 1 and for at least the first month of the 2026 season with Kerby Joseph (knee) and Brian Branch (Achilles) on injured reserve.
Detroit will miss Joseph and Branch as they are arguably the best safety duo in the game when healthy and on the field together.
But the Lions like the experience they brought in. They signed veteran Chuck Clark in free agency and re-signed veteran Avonte Maddox. That is expected to be Detroit's starting safety duo Sunday against New Orleans.
Clark, 31, has started 80 games in previous stops in Baltimore, New York (Jets) and Pittsburgh. He had a 70.3 overall grade from Pro Football Focus last season with a run-defense grade of 83.1 (seventh best among all safeties).
"I love being in this defense," Clark said this week. "I remember when I first got here there (were) a lot of opportunities for safeties to make plays in this defense, and I've come to learn that. You have to capitalize on your point of attack plays.
"People always ask me, 'What's your game? Are you a box safety or deep safety?' I like to play both and I feel like in this system, you have the opportunity to make plays at both."
This time last year, the Lions thought Maddox was exclusively a nickel cornerback. He continued getting better when given opportunities to cross-train at safety, and assistant head coach/safeties Jim O'Neil said this week Maddox is now a 'pretty damn good safety.'
Together, Clark and Maddox give Detroit a ton of experience and have earned the coaches' trust over the course of the spring and summer.
"Before every play and every call that comes in, me and (Clark) kind of look at each other and confirm what we're doing on that play," Maddox said of the high level of communication between himself and Clark.
"When you got a lot of guys that played a lot of ball like Jack (Campbell) and me and (Clark), if something goes wrong you can kind of make it right because we know where a lot of pieces need to be on the field."
Maddox, 30, earned his highest seasonal grade from PFF last season (79.1) with a coverage grade of 75.1.
"Him and (Clark) both, their ability to process information pre-snap and then put themselves or their teammates in a position to make plays is what really stands out to me as their super power," O'Neil said.
"It's pretty cool what's going on right now in the middle of our defense with (Campbell), (Maddox) and (Clark) when the three of them are out there together because they can handle a lot of scheme and checking and they do a great job communicating to the guys on the outside. That's been awesome."
Thomas Harper is another safety the Lions like who is a great space player and can go get the football. O'Neil said they have a lot of confidence in all three players.
Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard had two big points of emphasis this offseason: Be more consistent stopping the run and limit the 105 explosive plays Detroit gave up last year. They believe a smart, veteran duo like Clark and Maddox can help reduce some of those explosives by being in the right spots and making sure their teammates are too.
"What those guys provide for me is 10 years worth of experience in this league," Sheppard said of Clark and Maddox. "When you turn on concepts and you tell them a shot concept, they've seen it before. You don't then have to show them the tape and say, 'This is what that is. They got it coach, what you need me to do when I see that?'
"And their study, their attention to detail. I have all the confidence in the world in these guys. We're actually going to be able to do things that we weren't able to do before."
KENNEDY TO RETURN PUNTS
Veteran wide receiver Tom Kennedy, signed to the active roster from the practice squad Thursday, will return punts against the Saints.
"Yeah, obviously I'm excited for him," special teams coordinator Dave Fipp said. "I mean, every time we put him back there, he's done something with the ball in his hands, made a little play here or there, kind of created a spark energy. He did that in the preseason again.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be a collective effort of all 11 guys out on the field, not just one guy and not just him certainly. So, I'm excited to watch that group play."
Kennedy was terrific in that role last year, netting a 16.7-yard average per return filling in for Kalif Raymond late in the year. He averaged 27.9 yards per kickoff return.
DEFENSIVE LINE DEBUTS
Two of the top stories to come out of training camp were along Detroit's defensive front with sixth-round pick Skyler Gill-Howard carving out a role for himself and making the team, and undrafted rookie edge rusher Eric O’Neill making it almost impossible for the team to cut him with his consistent playmaking ability.
We'll see how the numbers game plays out Sunday in terms of both players being active against the Saints, but Sheppard loved how both players made the regular-season roster.
"I thought it was awesome. I think anybody with a set of eyes could see that these guys were getting after it," he said. "That's why they're on the roster. It's a sixth-round pick and an undrafted free agent. That's not a first-round hero guy you just named.
"You just named an undrafted kid that wears number 66 and a defensive tackle that's about as tall as my son. But I credit those guys because it just stamps what we've done here from 2021. It doesn't matter where you come from. It doesn't matter what it looks like. What does your tape say? And if the tape says you could help us, we're going to find ways as a coaching staff to implement you within what we're doing."
