Derrick Barnes

From 2024 IR collapse (2 games) to 2025 career year — 78 stops, 4 sacks, 6 TFL.

Barnes' 2024 was wiped out by a Week 3 knee injury that put him on IR — 2 games, 4 solo tackles, then done. The bounce-back in 2025 has been the most productive year of his career: 40 solo + 38 assist = 78 total tackles, plus 4 sacks (a new high) and 6 TFL. The Lions' Aaron Glenn-coached defense became Kelvin Sheppard's in 2025, and Barnes is the off-ball linebacker who's actually thrived in the new scheme.

4 sacks in 2025 already match his prior 4-year career sack total (4).

Through 2021-2024, Barnes' career sack total was 4 (2+1+1+0) across 48 games — a stand-up off-ball LB used more as a coverage-and-fits piece than a blitzer.

In 2025 alone he has 4 sacks in 17 games, with 5 QB hits to match. The blitz package is a real change: 4 sacks in one year is what most 4-3 SAM/WILL types post over a career, not a season.

161 career solo tackles + 130 assists = 291 stops in 65 games for Detroit.

Barnes has played his entire career in Detroit since being drafted in the 4th round (Pick 113) out of Purdue in 2021. Five seasons, 65 games, 269 total tackles — a steady, every-down off-ball linebacker. The 2024 IR season is the only outlier on his arc.

2023 was peak Barnes pre-injury — 82 total tackles, career-high 5 QB hits.

The Lions' breakout 2023 season (12-5, NFC Championship game) had Barnes as a key piece next to Alex Anzalone. 41 solo + 41 assist = 82 total tackles, 5 TFL, 1 sack, 5 QB hits, and his first career forced fumble — across 18 games (regular season + 3 playoff games).

That year established him as a starter; the knee injury 3 games into 2024 paused the trajectory before 2025 reignited it.

Drafted Pick 113 (4th round) in 2021 — out-producing several first-rounders from his class.

Barnes was the 17th LB taken in 2021, behind names like Micah Parsons, Jamin Davis, Zaven Collins, Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, and Nick Bolton. Among that 4th-round LB cohort (Picks 100-150), Barnes' 269 career tackles + 8 sacks is one of the more durable production lines.

He's also outlasted 2021 1st-rounder Jamin Davis (WAS) — released after 4 seasons — in terms of being a stable starter on a contending defense.