ALLEN PARK >> Don’t forget about Derrick Barnes.

It may be easy to gloss over his name when discussing the Detroit Lions‘ laundry list of injuries last season — Alex Anzalone, Carlton Davis III, Marcus Davenport, Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill and Malcolm Rodriguez all were sidelined with significant ailments at some point — but Barnes’ role in Detroit’s defense, while sometimes overlooked, is valued by the coaching staff.

Barnes is Detroit’s strong-side linebacker (SAM), responsible for wearing a number of different hats. Some plays feature him lining up on the edge and rushing the passer, while others see him drop into coverage from that same alignment. Occasionally, he’s walked out to the slot; he logged 16 snaps at nickel in 2024 before a season-ending knee injury against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 3 put him on the shelf.

“It’s very unfortunate that the injury happened,” new linebackers coach Shaun Dion Hamilton said Thursday. “Sometimes, we don’t know why things happen. But as bad as the injury was, I think a lot of good came out of that. … That injury sat him down (and) allowed him to sit back and be even more of a student of the game. … Now you watch film (and) maybe things he didn’t see last year, he’s seeing it. Because with that time (he was injured), he maximized it.

“He wasn’t just sitting on the couch feeling sorry for himself. He’s had a chance to really mature. I think this year is going to be a good season for him, and he’s going to take his game to the next level. It’s a credit to him for being a student of the game and maximizing his time when he wasn’t able to be on the field.”

Barnes’ versatility often allows the Lions to better disguise their defense, as an opposing quarterback looking across the line of scrimmage has to keep a watchful eye on the linebacker. The quarterback knows Hutchinson is coming after him more times than not, but what about Barnes on the other side? And if Barnes drops into coverage, who, if anyone, is replacing him as a rusher?

The Lions struggled to find a true replacement for Barnes. Trevor Nowaske played admirably in a similar role — he tallied 23 tackles, 17 pressures, two sacks and an interception on 348 total defensive snaps — but his responsibilities weren’t quite in line with what the Lions ask out of Barnes.

“That’s a lot of different jobs for one player to handle, and it’s a very unique position to play,” outside linebackers coach David Corrao said of playing SAM. “So, therefore, in my opinion, that’s a hard position for us to fill with one player. That make sense?

“The idea that you’re going to have a player as unique as Derrick Barnes is — with his ability on the edge, his ability to pressure up the middle, his ability to drop into coverage — the idea that you would have a second player with that level of skill set sitting behind somebody on the depth chart, I don’t see how realistic that is. Somebody with that level of skill set you’re going to want on the field as much as you can, you know?”

Barnes was rewarded in March with an extension tying him to the Lions through the 2027 season. Forking over $16 million in guaranteed money to a player coming off of a knee injury signals the organization’s belief in his ability to not only rebound, but to continue his upward track.

The sample size is small, but Barnes played well before hurting his knee. His overall defensive grade from Pro Football Focus (70.6) ranked 11th out of the 42 linebackers who played more than 100 snaps from Week 1-3, and his grade against the run (75.0) was seventh among that same group.

“It’s an absolute shame we didn’t get to see him on that trajectory, because I thought the role that we have carved out for him is a very unique position where he’s on the ball, off the ball, he’s pressure, he’s coverage,” Corrao said. “He’s a very versatile, explosive player, and I’m excited to see that continue on past (three) games. I think we all got robbed of that, and I think that’s going to be a very exciting thing to watch unfold over the course of the season.”