Darius Slay rips into Kelvin Sheppard’s Lions defense amid Panthers disaster

The Detroit Lions have united through a rocky start to the 2026 NFL season with Dan Campbell defending Jared Goff against a snide Ben Johnson comment . They hit the road to take on Carolina in Week 4 action, but were bombarded by Bryce Young and company, giving up over 400 yards in a 32-26 loss that caused the opinionated former Lions cornerback to call out defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard's struggling unit.

Slay, a six-time Pro Bowler, was drafted by the Lions out of Mississippi State in 2013 and stayed until 2019. He retired in March 2026 but still has eyes for his former team, based on brutally honest comments made during Sunday Night Football.

"Lions I got a lot of love for y'all but man this defense is bad bad," Slay said.

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The Lions and Panthers were tied at 16 apiece come halftime but the Panthers continued to pile big play after big play onto a defense that simply didn't have the talent to run with Tetairoa McMillan and Chubba Hubbard. Detroit outgained Carolina 452 to 445 but much of the Lions' yards came in desperation, hurry-up mode trailing by over two scores late in the game.

Sheppard was appointed to his current post in January 2025 and hasn't consistently lived up to his billing as an aggressive yet wise former linebacker capable of forcing opposing teams into making critical mistakes. Campbell seemed unfazed after the defense's early season struggles , a bad sign that has evolved into a full blown crisis.

Detroit did not score a single takeaway against the Panthers as Young was made to look like vintage Peyton Manning against the Lions' injury-depleted secondary.

Lions second round pick Derrick Moore did not record a single stat during the game, another piece of bad news on a defense that provided little resistance in one of the biggest games of the season. If Sheppard doesn't turn things around soon, Slay's harsh message will start to look like a drop of water in an ocean of complaints aimed at getting the Lions' defense turned around by any and all means necessary.