The Detroit Lions have made a move to improve their depth at defensive end, bringing back veteran Al-Quadin Muhammad on a one-year deal, a league source told The Detroit News.
Muhammad, 29, was added by Detroit in October of last season and was a pleasant surprise for the team, which maintained its winning ways despite several injuries to the defensive side of the ball.He played 293 snaps for Detroit over nine games and generated 26 pressures with three sacks, including one sack of Sam Darnold in the Lions’ Week 18 win over the Minnesota Vikings. In Weeks 8 and 18, Muhammad recorded a season-high six pressures.
Lions coach Dan Campbell consistently showed appreciation for Muhammad’s game throughout the season, making his re-signing a safer bet than some other free agents on the roster.
“Dude, he’s grown,” Campbell said prior to Detroit’s divisional-round game against the Washington Commanders. “As a matter of fact, we were talking about him yesterday. … We feel like over the last three weeks, he’s gotten better and better and better. He came in — we brought him in, we had to use him basically immediately, got him out there and he gave us everything he had, but he had also just walked back into the building.
“So, he (was) a little rusty, then trying to learn our terminology and then scheme, too. The style in which we play was different than what he’s played in his career. We ask him to do things a little bit different, so there’s a growing period for a veteran guy, and he’s done it. I feel like he’s really coming around.”
Muhammad joins an edge group that currently includes Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, Josh Paschal, Nate Lynn, Isaac Ukwu, and Mitchell Agude.