Plenty of Detroit Lions players will benefit from the presence of defensive tackle DJ Reader.
Now that we are in the deep, dark abyss that is the NFL offseason, it’s time to really begin looking forward to the 2024 season for the Detroit Lions . After a record-breaking run in 2023, the team has their sights set on “the big boy.”
Over the course of the next several weeks, we here at Pride of Detroit are going to be working through our roster-preview series. Next up, we have free agent acquisition, defensive tackle DJ Reader.
Previous roster previews: WR Kalif Raymond .
DJ Reader
Expectations for 2023
Since entering the league in 2016 after being drafted by the Houston Texans in the fifth-round of the 2016 NFL Draft , Reader has been one of the best run defenders in all of football. Powerfully-built and standing at 6-foot-3 and 335 pounds, it’s easy to understand why.
However, Reader’s game extends far beyond just being another massive human in the middle of a defense. The man is a technician with his hands and leverage, and with his experience, he seems to always have a handle on what the offense is trying to do him.
He is a menace on the interior to the point where when he is on the field, the offense almost always needs to devote two blockers to the nine-year vet. Through my own film review of his play , I found that is usually enough to stalemate with Reader. You won’t be able to move him off of his spot, but on most downs—teams are simply hoping to limit the vertical push he can create in the middle of the offensive line. When offenses do make the grave mistake of attempting to block Reader with a lone guard or center, it’s almost if he takes it as a slight and walks the overwhelmed blocker into the lap of the passer.
After spending the last three years of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals, Reader would once again be leaned on to be a dominant interior-defender for a team that had Super Bowl aspirations once the season began.
Actual role in 2023
14 games (14 starts): 535 defensive snaps
Stats: 34 tackles, 20 solo, 2 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 7 quarterback hits, 1 fumble recovery.
PFF defensive grade: 82.2 (13th out of 141 qualifying DTs — minimum 200 snaps)
PFF run defense grade: 75.3 (10th out of 141)
PFF tackling grade: 29.0 (129th out of 141)
PFF pass rush grade: 79.1 (14th out of 141)
Shocking nobody, Reader picked up right where he left off in 2023. He was an immovable presence on the interior of the Bengals defense line. And given the fact that the AFC North features opponents like the Cleveland Browns and the Baltimore Ravens , it makes sense that Cincinnati would be one of the teams willing to pay up for one of the league’s most consistent run defenders.
While the counting stats will never be too eye-popping for someone who spends the majority of their reps at the zero or one-technique, Reader’s impact reaches every level of a defense when you apply the context you obtain from watching the film.
Of the defensive linemen that played at least 20% of their team’s defensive snaps, Reader’s 75.3 run defense grade was the 10th best in the league, according to PFF. Through 14 games, Reader logged 535 snaps for the Bengals and was a key component of their ability to slow down the run.
Unfortunately, Reader’s season was cut short due to suffering a torn right quad tendon in a Week 15 game over the Minnesota Vikings .
Outlook for 2024
When Reader was first signed by the Lions, I found myself thinking about who was the happiest in the Lions’ organization about the new addition. Was it defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn? Having someone like Reader on the field for first and second downs helps you get to more favorable third-downs where he can scheme up exotic pressures to get after opposing quarterbacks.
Or maybe the happiest were defensive tackles Alim McNeill and Brodric Martin. Reader’s arrival presumably frees up McNeill to spend more time at the three-technique where he can get more one-on-ones with guards, and cause—in his words—destruction .
“Everybody’s going to complement each other very well this year,” McNeill said this spring. “Just being able to get different one-on-one looks, because they’re going to have to double DJ in some situations, you have to or he’s gonna get the sack. So it’s just gonna go hand in hand and a lot of different thing.”
And for Martin, there may not be a better mentor for a nose tackle than Reader. If I am Martin, I am doing everything Reader does and studying his habits on how to be a pro. It sounds like that mentorship is already well underway.
“He already watched the film on me and all that,” Martin said. “He let me know what I need to do, what I need to get better on and how I look at stuff. He’s a good vet to have, a good person. I’m glad he’s there.”
Speaking of being freed up, the linebacking corps is another group that is ecstatic with the news of the Reader signing. Occupying double teams goes a long way towards keeping linebackers clean and allowing them to run to the ball-carrier and make plays.
“That’d be a thing of beauty for guys like Jack (Campbell, (Alex) Anza(lone), D(errick) Barnes, because it frees them up,” linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard said. “(If) you gotta hang on double teams on those guys, who’s blocking us, you know what I mean? So, it’s going to be a pleasure playing behind them.”
I could go on, but you get the point. Once he is completely recovered from the aforementioned quad injury suffered late in the 2023 season, Reader should be a force-multiplier in the middle of the Lions’ defense.