Lions get Aidan Hutchinson huge help on defensive front: Contract details, grade

Dan Campbell is going to love having D.J. Reader on his team now, man. While the Detroit Lions still need to find a complementary pass-rusher to pair opposite of Aidan Hutchinson, they just got a whole lot more beefier in the trenches, baby! Yes, the former Cincinnati Bengals and Houston Texans nose tackle is joining his third NFL team in his free agency. It is a two-year deal worth up to $27.25M.

This move is right in the vein with what the Lions should want to do defensively, which is to bring in a bona-fide space-eater into the interior of their defensive line. This will allow edge rushers like Hutchinson, as well as the linebacking corps, to run more freely. If the Lions are afforded the opportunity to play even faster on defense, that could be huge in their quest to get to the Super Bowl.

As for the Bengals, we may have seen their Super Bowl window close before our very eyes. They nearly won it back in 2021, but came up short to the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi. While the Bengals were highly competitive two years ago, they were not even a playoff team last season. This probably has more to do with Joe Burrow's health than anything, but other teams are poaching their players.

Bleacher Report's Jordan Schultz broke down the details of Reader's new contract with the Lions.

It may be an overpay for a player coming off an injury, but you cannot put a price on a championship.

Detroit Lions make a huge splash in free agency by signing D.J. Reader

What I like the most about this move for the Lions is they are not only trying to make their team better across the board, but it simultaneously hurts a contending team like the Bengals. Look. They may play in opposite conferences, but only one team can hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the year. Sadly, the Bengals and the Lions are among the same dozen teams who have never had that luxury.

Overall, I like this move more from a macro sense than anything. Does it make the Lions better? Yes, but Reader's value is not on the stats sheet; it is on the stats sheet of others. For a cool $27.25 million over the next two years, this move is right in line with the Lions' Super Bowl window. Next offseason, they are going to have to pay Jared Goff big money. They will also lose Ben Johnson to another team.

Ultimately, you win and lose games in the trenches. When Reader is out there, he makes his team better than the opposition's more often than not. Although his latest free agency move suggests he is a bit of a frontrunner, he did see the big picture when signing with the Bengals back in 2020. That team was still hot garbage. It wasn't until the following year that Cincinnati nearly did the impossible.

There is a lot of variance with the signing, but it does seem to be in line with what Detroit is building.

Grade: A-