The Detroit Lions are still shopping for help in the secondary, and ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler floated two names on Wednesday that could fit the bill in very different ways.
Fowler pointed to Kansas City cornerback Kristian Fulton as one possible target, while also raising the question of whether Pittsburgh’s Jalen Ramsey could be available. The latter comes with a big asterisk, though, because Ramsey’s current role with the Steelers has shifted away from the outside.
“One potential option is Kansas City’s Kristian Fulton, who is in and out of the Chiefs’ lineup,” Fowler wrote. “He is owed real money -- $5 million of his $9.75 million base salary is guaranteed -- but perhaps the Chiefs and Lions could split the bill to facilitate a deal.
Is it worth calling Pittsburgh for Jalen Ramsey? Not sure he’s available, but the Lions’ defense seems far from settled.”
Fulton would bring a more straightforward cornerback solution. A second-round pick by Tennessee in 2020, he started 37 games across four seasons with the Titans before moving on to the Chargers on a one-year deal in 2024. That season went well: 51 tackles, seven passes defended, one interception and a 68.9 PFF grade that ranked 32nd among 80 qualifying cornerbacks.
That performance earned him a two-year, $20 million deal with Kansas City, but things went sideways quickly. A knee injury wiped out most of his offseason work, then an ankle injury in Week 2 added another setback.
After that, he mostly fell out of the rotation and was even a healthy scratch for roughly a third of the season. In all, he appeared in just eight games and made two starts.
This season has looked different, but not necessarily stable. Fulton has logged 115 defensive snaps over four games, though he did not play a single snap in Week 3 against the Dolphins for reasons that remain unclear.
Still, when he has been on the field, he’s held up well. He owns a 76.0 overall PFF grade and a 76.4 coverage grade, and quarterbacks have targeted him eight times while he’s allowed four catches for 19 yards and an interception.
The catch: he’s also been flagged twice.
That strange usage could be part of the reason Kansas City would consider moving him. Fulton is described as a physical, handsy corner with average size at 5-foot-11, 197 pounds, and a 4.46 40-yard dash.
Ramsey, meanwhile, brings a résumé that needs no selling. He entered the league in 2016 and has piled up eight Pro Bowl selections and three All-Pro nods. He’ll turn 32 later this month, but he’s still putting up strong numbers, including 148 tackles, 19 pass breakups and three interceptions from 2024-25.
Even so, he doesn’t look like the clean answer for Detroit’s perimeter cornerback problem. Ramsey has spent most of this season with the Steelers at nickel corner or safety, a move he has been making over the past two years. The Lions could certainly use help there, but if the goal is an outside cornerback upgrade, Ramsey probably isn’t the one.
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