Lions Free Agency Medical Report: Avonte Maddox S
Is the long injury history of Maddox a concern?
The Lions added a veteran safety in Week 5 of free agency by re-signing Avonte Maddox. This was déjà vu of Week 4 when the Lions added veteran safety Chuck Clark.
Do these safety additions tell us anything about the health concerns of the returning safeties?
Maybe it means the Lions have serious availability concerns among the safety group. Or maybe the Lions are being wise by buying some inexpensive insurance. We may get our answer during the NFL Draft depending on how early the Lions take a safety.
Here is the medical report for Maddox. Age in parentheses is at start of 2026 season.
Avonte Maddox, S (30)
Contract: 1 year, $ pending
Concern level 5/10
2025: 14/17 games played. Hamstring, missed 2 games. Illness, missed 1 game. Back injury at end of season, played through (see video below).
2024: 21/21 games
2023: 5/18 games. Pec surgery, missed 13 games, returned later in season.
2022: 11/20 games. Hamstring to IR. Toe surgery, missed 3 games.
2021: 17/18 games.
2020: 10/16 games. Knee injury ended season.
2019: 13/17 games. Concussion/neck injury “lost feeling for 20 seconds”, missed 4 games.
2018: 15/18 games
Maddox has been highly available in the past two seasons, however he has a long prior injury history which presents reliability concerns. The toe, hamstring, knee, and possible spinal issue could all become a problem again.
On a 1-year deal as a backup, the health concerns are probably not a big deal. However, if he needs to be counted on for multiple games in a row, the reliability concerns could manifest.
For last week’s safety signing…