{"id":73923,"date":"2025-08-06T01:54:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=73923"},"modified":"2025-08-06T01:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T01:54:54","slug":"lions-add-former-chiefs-cornerback-in-move-to-boost-secondary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=73923","title":{"rendered":"Lions Add Former Chiefs Cornerback in Move to Boost Secondary"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2166428941-e1753824795777.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2166428941-e1753824795777.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2166428941-e1753824795777.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2166428941-e1753824795777.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Lions Add Former Chiefs Cornerback in Move to Boost Secondary\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" \/><\/figure>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Lions head coach Dan Campbell.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Detroit Lions are adding some depth to their secondary by adding a cornerback who is coming off a standout season with their local UFL team.<\/p>\n<p>The team announced that they signed D.J. Miller, a second-year player who spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs before moving to the Michigan Panthers. Miller helped lead his team to a league title this season and now will compete for a spot on Detroit\u2019s final roster.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Lions Making Moves on Defense<\/h2>\n<p>After splitting his college career between Kent State and Iowa State, Miller went undrafted in 2024 and spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs in the summer before ultimately being released. Christian Booher of SI.com noted that Miller will now have the chance to stand out in an injury-struck secondary for the Lions.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">\u201cMiller will help the Lions\u2019 cornerback depth, as Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw have both dealt with injuries early in camp,\u201d Booher wrote. \u201cArnold is recovering from a low-grade hamstring injury, while Rakestraw has been dealing with a chest contusion and was evaluated for a shoulder injury after practice Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">Depth could be an important factor for a Lions team that suffered significant injury losses on defense in 2024. The team has already taken some big hits this year as well, placing rookie safety Dan Jackson on injured reserve after he suffered a leg injury on Sunday. The designation means Jackson won\u2019t be able to take the field in the 2025 season.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">The Athletic\u2019s Colton Pouncy also suggested that Rakestraw\u2019s injury could keep him off the field for a stretch to start the season.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">\u201cRakestraw left practice Sunday with a shoulder injury during a tackling drill,\u201d Pouncy wrote. \u201cCampbell said the team is getting it checked out, but added that the second-year cornerback will be \u2018out a while at best.\u2019 Sounds like he could end up on IR after further testing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">Miller knows something about injuries. When asked about his biggest challenge in college, suffering an injury that led him to transfer from Iowa State to Kent State.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe hardest moment to overcome in my life was my injury and transfer from Iowa State, played a lot on me mentally and emotionally and I\u2019m proud of myself for being able to climb out of it,\u201d he told NFL Draft Diamonds last year.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">Lions Praised for \u2018Deep\u2019 Secondary<\/h2>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">It could be difficult for Miller to crack the 53-man roster, with the Lions bringing back a deep secondary that includes D.J. Reed, Rock Ya-Sin, Khalil Dorsey, and Amik Robertson at nickel cornerback.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">Dorsey has also been hurt, but Pouncy suggested he will be ready to start the season and that the rest of the depth chart is close to set in stone.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">\u201cElsewhere, if Dorsey is ready to go within the first month, you have to think the Lions will try to avoid an IR stint. Sounds like things are trending that way,\u201d Pouncy wrote. \u201cThe rest are roster locks at a fairly deep position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jhcd2jt7w\">The injuries could at least give an opening for Miller to squeak onto the practice squad to start the season, should he miss the active roster.<\/p>\n<p>Nathan Dougherty is a sports reporter covering the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Buffalo Bills, Detroit Lions and Miami Dolphins. Previously he wrote for the Rochester Business Journal and served as the assistant editor of athletic trade magazines Coaching Management, Athletic Management and Training &amp; Conditioning. He is based out of Rochester, New York, and loves everything football. More about Nathan Dougherty<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on Lions<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Detroit Lions signed former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback D.J. Miller to help an injury-struck secondary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":73924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lions Add Former Chiefs Cornerback in Move to Boost Secondary - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=73923\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lions Add Former Chiefs Cornerback in Move to Boost Secondary - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Detroit Lions signed former Kansas City Chiefs cornerback D.J. 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