Mocking Aaron Rodgers, tore his ■■■■■■■ ACL, only the Lions. smh
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Calvin/Tate is better than Amon Ra/Marvin Jones/Jameson BUT…after Calvin/Tate the 2014 Lions had shit for weapons. The 2023 Lions have Josh Reynolds and Kalif Raymond.
In terms of TE Ebron was shit as a rookie. Pettigrew was on his last leg. I’ll take out TEs right now with LaPorta, Mitchell and ? over 2014’s TEs.
Slay was a rookie in 2013 and he was bad. He was better in 2014. I’ll take Sutton and our whole secondary over the 2013 Lions even with the amazing Glover Quin. CGJ is something the 2014 Lions didn’t have.
Alex Anzalone is basically Tulloch. Maybe a step down. Levy was brilliant in 2014. 2023 ain’t got a Levy BUT…we have possibilities in Jack Campbell and Rodrigo.
Suh is the BEAST 2023 doesn’t have but Suh wasn’t a great scheme player. He was just amazing. But, an argument can be made that better coaching and players that play their role/culture can be better.
I’ll take 2023 and that surprises me.
He’s a free agent!
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Ask me again in January. My gut tells me 2014 was a a better team overall. But MCDC and co. are the magic pills. The teams so young, we haven’t had time to digest some of these players, and find the warts we love to prod.
Mix and match:
QB- 2014
RB- 23
WR- 14
TE- 23
OLine - 23 by a mile!!!
DLine- 14 by a mile!!!
LB’s- 14
CB’s- ahhhh… damn… 23?
S’s- 14
K- 14
P- c’mon? You have to ask?
Returners- 23. Kalif over Ross. Who did punt returns in 14? I think it was Ross too.
Safeties in 2014 over our group now that could be ELITE ??? Glover Quin over who maybe Branch but he’s a rookie or Tracey if he’s not health that’s it
If we sign Suh today he’s not dominant as he once was but I’d take our DL now all day over that year. Especially our depth it’s ELITE.
Suh, Slay, Stafford, Calvin, Warford
Riddick & Prater…ok I’ll take Levy too.
That’s the only guys I’d want
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As far as the Dline goes I’ll split DE and DT. I would take 2014 DT group over 23, BUT I would hands down take our 23 DE/edge group over 14 because of the untapped potential of it(and I think that potential will come to the forefront this year).
Interestingly Lombardi was trying to implement the type of offense Johnson is running. A run first, under center play action offense.
He had a few things working against him. I don’t think he’s as smart as BJ, The Oline was built to play man scheme and weren’t great witn the switch to zone concepts, and Stafford is a shotgun gunslinger who looks like a fish out of water with his back to the defense
On that team I’d take Suh, CJ and Slay Levy and Quin and the rest I’m sticking with 2023
Oh yea, Prater too
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I think the '23 line is much deeper. The depth at edge is insane then you have guys like Paschal and Commish that can play all over the line. The '14 line had the gamewrecker in Suh but I think I’d actually take the '23 line with projection mixed in of young guys taking steps forward. That pass rush in '14 was ferocious though.
Safety is clearly '23 Lions IMO.
CJGJ, Walker, Kerby, Branch
v.
Quin, Ihedigbo, Carey?, Seisay?
I don’t think it’s all that close tbh.
The '14 Lions had experience and more proven high end talent at the top of the roster but the '23 Lions are way deeper IMO, they’re just really young still.
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Suh is definitely what made that defense what it was. He made the overall defense more powerful than its individual parts. We had a weakness in coverage at safety (James Ihedigbo) but we were able to short the box and allow that guy to roam and not get isolated in coverage. And by shorting the box (hehe), I mean that a traditional 7 man box for us was like a loaded 8 man box that other teams run. So when other teams would be in a 7 man box, we could accomplish the same thing with a 6 man box. And when other teams would be in a 6 man box (very common), we could jump in a 5 man box.
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Went from the 2nd ranked defense in the nfl in 2014 to the 18th ranked defense in 2015 without Suh. Teryl Austin was the coordinator both seasons.
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Just keep that available cap money
Sign SUH
After training camp
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Red Zone: Suh FB, Alim HB, that Oline.
Hmmm…
Don’t give a shit who you put out there on D, not named Caterpiller.
These guys, other then CJGJ or whatever it is, are still unproven. I think people forget how awesome Quin was. Kerby could become that good, I agree, but the first half of 2022 DID happen. To many guys on this defense are still unknown. Paschal, Rodrigo, Barnes, Mosely. I love Kerby, but he could regress. Quin and Ihedgibo were a perfect FS/SS combo. I loved them together.
Ohhhhh, no I don’t. 
Gibby > Bush (especially the age Bush was when we got him)
Monty > Bell by a mile.
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What about the 2023 Big Natty vs the 2014 Big Natty!?
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2014 version was more physically fit.
2023 version is more heart-centered, more spiritually, intellectually fit.
Love them both, but 2023 by a landslide
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Yep. This is what it comes down to. I mean alot of our 2023 people haven’t played an NFL down. So its an 11-5 team against a projected good, possibly great, team. Apples to oranges!
The guy (whose name happens to be Don Drysdale, LOL) in the article referenced above didn’t like our 2014 team and only gave it the 7th best ranking all-time - this is what he said about it:
Unless you are lucky enough to have one of those memory eraser sticks from the movie, Men in Black, this season should still be fresh in your mind. The 2014 Lions were led by Ndamukong Suh, and a defense that ended the season ranked 2nd in the league in points allowed, with only 16.8 points per game. Unfortunately, the offense, which was thought to be a strength going into the season, did absolutely nothing to help the cause. They were only able to contribute 20.1 points per game, placing them 23rd in the league in that category. 11 wins, in my opinion, is very deceiving and realistically this was not that great of a team. They went 1-5 against playoff teams, including a 24-20 loss in the first round of the playoffs to the Dallas Referees, I mean Cowboys.
So I think we’re unanimous in picking the 23 team overall. Especially coaching, culture, depth and grit.
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I actually think Glover Quin is a good player comp for Brian Branch.
@CuriousHusker thoughts ?
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Glover was a converted corner. I think his coverage chops are a bit better in all likelihood. He was certainly more skilled as a centerfielder than Branch. Branch conversely is much, much better going downhill and is a tackling wunderkind.
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Technically isn’t Branch going to be a converted corner as well? Same size-ish and athletic ability.
Agree on their skill sets you mentioned