Despair, your name is Kwon Alexander.
That's where the Detroit Lions' defense stands at the start of Week 14, with a serviceable entire starting defense on injured reserve and two other Lions freshly placed on IR after injuries sustained in the Thanksgiving win over the Bears. They're desperate for healthy bodies to fill the void until players like Alex Anzalone and Jalen Reeves-Maybin can return The Lions signed Alexander from the Denver Broncos' practice squad.
It is perhaps the most ironic news of what has already been a very strange season for the Lions – in a good sense.
Alexander has been known to fans since his early days with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. LSU's fleet-footed off-ball LB immediately turned heads as a fourth-round pick in 2015. In 2016, Alexander led the NFL in solo tackles. The next year, Alexander won a Pro Bowl with nearly 100 tackles and three INTs in 12 games.
The strong Alexander was a rising defensive star in his first three seasons, although he missed four games in two of those first three years due to injury. And then came the injuries. And came. And it kept coming…
2018 – Left cruciate ligament tear (missed 10 games)
2019 – Torn pectoral muscle (8)
Playoffs 2019 – Biceps tear (played through)
2020 – high ankle sprain (4)
2020 – right Achilles tendon rupture (10, including early 2021)
2023 – torn left Achilles (8)
Alexander made it through a 17-game season, just one, the 2022 season with the Jets. He made a positive impression in his one-year stay in New York, quickly becoming the Jets' best LB in coverage and still being a willing, if not always capable, tackler in the run game.
He played reasonably well for the Steelers last season before the Achilles injury. While at ILB, Alexander relied on coverage and cleanup in the run game and, aside from a very high missed tackle rate, fit well in Pittsburgh's read-and-attack defense.
Now the man who has missed the equivalent of three full 17-game seasons due to a litany of injuries since 2017 is tasked with being the liaison for a Detroit LB corps that in the last month has seen Reeves-Mayvin, Anzalone and now Rodriguez has lost.
If Alexander can show in Detroit what he did in Pittsburgh in 2023 before his injury, he can immediately help offset the loss of Anzalone and Reeves-Maybin – Detroit's top two coverage linebackers. The glimpses of playing time Alexander got in Denver midseason are promising in that regard. The veteran proved to be a good foil against Lamar Jackson in Denver's loss to the Ravens in Week 9.
Lions fans will have to live with the missed tackles (a rate of over 20 percent since 2019) and the loss of the instant quickness and nervous reactions that made him a Pro Bowler all those years ago. Detroit simply needs functional depth and the best Kwon Alexander he can still be. He will get the chance to prove it quickly with the Lions.
