2026 will define Brad and Dan’s legacy…

The Den
41

Sooo. If Miller is a Decker level OT, if Tyliek can be a top 35 DT in the league, if Rat breaks a 72-75 grade type season this year and if Moore has 7-8 sacks plus consistent pressures…. Along with Mahogany proving to be a capable full season starter and Rakestraw a healthy and competent CB3… sure

Lots of if….

Also 3 new starting OL positions- Monty becomes Pacheco (likely IR) and Raymond become Tay?

It’s pretty easy to see some potential offensive regression as between personnel and the long odds of a team staying top 3 year after year after year?

I think we took liberties at WR, RB, CB, and S that could have easily been fortified.

Maybe they don’t need to be. That will be the other side of 2026 determining a legacy. They get 12-14 wins with what is on our 53-

I can’t be the only one who thinks we appear a 325 run stuffer, a ball hawking FS, a reliable WR4/PR, and a CB1/2 away… and we had the resources to make it happen.

42

I don’t know.

Our 40% of our locked in starting offensive line was so bad that all 32 teams didn’t offer them a starting position this season and that’s before you get into the other dudes who started or played a lot on the oline who also aren’t on rosters.

I really think we underrated how bad Glascow and Decker were last year because of their history and PFF grades

But I really don’t like that if Rock Ya Sin or DJ Reed get hurt we are depending on Rake and I guess Nick Whiteside

43

We’ve had 4 winning seasons in a row. A 5th would be the first time that has happened in my lifetime. That would cement Brad as the best ever in Lions history.

No GM gets every pick right.

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44

Did we though? Could we reasonably pay a good run stuffer, a ball hawking FS, and a CB 1/2 and not lose one of our other guys? The cap doesn’t look great. Unless you are a proponent of the ‘kick the can big time to the future’ strategy.

I really respected deadstroke, and he always talked about how the bill ALWAYS comes due, you can just shift it around a bit (until you can’t). I kind of doubt we could have signed all of those dudes you are talking about without going in the hole pretty majorly.

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What’s great about what Brad has done is that we actually don’t need most of those guys to be great right away.

Given how much time-sharing Moore is very likely to do, and how many other promising guys we have at edge, he certainly doesn’t need 7-8 sacks + pressures to have a successful season OR for the DL to have a great one.

I think Bartch, if healthy, will be the starter at LG sooner than later. So Mahogany taking a big step up would be fantastic, but, again, we have at least one quality alternative who could be better.

IMO we do need Tyleik to step up. We don’t have a credible replacement for what he brings on the roster. (Retaining Lopez would have been a big plus.) Miller can certainly match 2025 Decker, but not reasonable to think he can match prime Deck as a rookie.

It’s like Brad said it once: 325-lb run-stuffer? Sure. But can he play? Would be align with their vision for the defense?

And the reliable #WR4 type? Tay Martin. Lucky Jackson. Meeks. Those seem to be the Lions’ answers. Ball-hawking FS, CB 1/2 - not so easy to find, and I kinda think the Lions don’t have the resources to get 'em without blowing up their long-term plan.

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Brad and Dan will define 2026

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47

Okay I’ll bite….

First off, I don’t think kicking the can down the road is really that bad of a strategy… so long as you get the players right.

Hutch, Goff, Jamo, Gibbs, Sewell were all taken with ELITE draft capital, and without a tragic downturn, we won’t see that level of capital again. We had a #1, #2, #7, and a pair of #12’s and a #18 overall picksthat we landed in a 3 year span. That’s 3 super premium picks (Goff was #1 and has played like he deserved to be the last 4 years) and 3 really high… NOT HAPPENING AGAIN!

So in 3 years when Goff is 34, Ra is 29, Gibbs, 27, Jamo 28, and Sewell 28, and Hutch 29 we may be getting very close to some seeing decline and if not, we certainly will struggle to sign them all again.

Am I worried about signing Laporta and Branch? If we do sign them, they will be very cheap next year and moderately priced the year after. We already have 72MM in cap space next year and a good season would yield a cheaper rookie pool of cap allocation. I’m more worried about their availability and impact than where to get the money if they return to health and to form.

Jaylin Hawkins- 2 years 10M
Greg Newsome- 1 yr up to 10M
Dortch- what we paid
R White- 1 yr 2M

Let’s assume we had to spend 500K more to get them here for some reason….

The bottom 2 would have been absorbed by the roster spot player they replace plus costing maybe 1.2M total which we have

Hawkins and Newsome carry an AAV of 13M combined. They replace 2 guys costing 2M combined so really it’s 11Min dead cap to next year, but we’d still have Hawkins so not that bad?

I’d feel a helluva lot better about this year and a bit better about next. What if Hawkins had 5 picks and an 80pff rating? Maybe we restructure Goff and cut Kerby if he’s done-

Or we have Kerby back with Hawkins and move Branch to NB if we decide to sign him.

48

Jaylin Hawkins at 5M per and a prove it deal59 Greg Newsome for 8M

We have Hutch, Alim, some hope that Tyleik can be early career Reader, and what? If we are trying to convince ourselves that Bartch and Wonnum are “okay” to start if Mahogany and Moore aren’t impactful- that’s not good

49

This season will be defined by how they do in the inter-division games. Our schedule is a virtual cakewalk to the playoffs. They simply cannot go 2-4 in the division again. The only question is do they win the division and attain high seed with multiple home games in the playoffs, or do they not win the division and have to sneak in with a wildcard seed.

Not making the playoffs would be “supremely” disappointing with the schedule laid out the way it is and would be a failure from the GM all the way down to the water boy.

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Some clued-in talking head suggested that Conklin was redundant with Brock Wright, so that plus the low numbers in the WR room conspired…to let Meeks inherit the berth.
ba GIF

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51

Conklin is also a veteran which I believe would have guaranteed his salary for the season right? If they bring him back after final cuts then it isn’t. Do I have that correct?

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No ■■■■■■■ way! Sorry.

It’s hard to win in the NFL. This team is built the right way, and, coached the right way.

Remind me. When was the last time a Lions coaching administration had a winning record? When was the last playoff win before Holmes and Campbell.

Are they perfect? No. They’re the best we’ve had in 30 years.

There was a lot of futility in between. You in a hurry to go back to that? You must be a closet Packer fan.

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The Lions ran 12 personnel on 36% of their snaps last year already, another 7% in 13 personnel… I expect about the same this year… But yes, there won’t be much need for WR4/5 to ever be on the field

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I think that is what he’d hope for if it played out like that. The Lions have enjoyed a run that the Ford family has never seen….so I doubt 10-7 and a narrow miss would cause changes. Maybe internal Coaching changes….but if 10-7 is the record Brad and Dan are safe unless there is inter bickering or some sort of power struggle going on

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55

What I think: Dan & Brad looked at last season and concluded that the Legion of Whom secondary was better than they got credit for and the front 7 was worse than the sack/pressure numbers suggested.

And then they put most of their attention - and what little $$$ they could spend - to the big problem areas, the trenches on both sides. Mays is literally the only multi-year contract they gave out.

Hawkins probably better, but our two current starting safeties will cost $3 million COMBINED and they’re only committed to them this year. At $8 million, Newsome would have been our costliest signing beside Mays. I’m guessing they want some cap space for emergencies and/or to roll over.

I’m not saying Mahogany and Moore won’t be good. I’m saying Bartch is better right now, which he’s shown the last couple years when healthy. His problem is staying healthy.

And I’m definitely not saying Moore won’t be impactful. But he’ll be splitting time with a bunch of guys, meaning he probably won’t get big numbers even if he does really well w/the snaps he gets.

Unless he dominates early (or other guys get hurt).

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56

Why does 50 years of sucking alleviate SB expectations today?

Holmes landed a smash trade that he couldn’t have even seen working out this well.

Since the #63 pick in 2023 it’s fair to say that Brad has not drafted a single REALLY GOOD player. Rat was decent, Tyliek wasn’t awful, and mahogany has been a pleasant surprise.

We also used EIGHT 3rd and 4th round picks on Teslaa, Bromart, Manu, Vaki, and Rolder- and 12 decent games from CD3

Our top of that our top FA signings have been Sutton, CJGJ, Davenport, Reed, Reader, and Cade Mays…. Am I missing something

Brother- Holmes was legendary from 2021 to pick #45 in 2023…. From the trade down from pick #63 to today it hasn’t been pretty

We just happened to land a Pro Bowl QB and 5-6 all pros in 2.5 drafts!

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It doesn’t.

How are Brad and Dan responsible for injuries and NFL Caps?

When was the last time a decimated defense won the Super Bowl? It doesn’t happen.

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I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said and it was very well stated.

I disagree with our approach though. I believe we have nearly 80M next year for what? To extend Branch after 6-7 clunky games and Laporta to a 75M deal if he gets 700-800 yards?

To say the Legion of Whom wasn’t that bad? There are two realities. We went 9-8 and last year in a league of parity. Are you alleging that Harper, Whiteside, Maullet, and Maddox are actually decent nfl players, or alleging that we can literally play any players period in our secondary if we have a decent DL?

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We did get unlucky for sure.

We also drafted Levi with a back, Paschal with a broken body, Rake who missed tons of college games, Rolder who missed plenty of games, and signed guys like Moseley, CJGJ, CD3, and Davenport who missed TONS of games every year.

If you draft injured players abs sign chronically injured ones, it hurts the odds of staying healthy?

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60

Boy that’s not how I remember it, what happen to Morton help designed this offense and we still have Dan ? We were fine .

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