No doubt. I was saying that after Terrence Williams and Perriman Jr., but, 4 out of 5 winning seasons. Two playoff runs. Two playoff wins, in the same season! A 15-3 season.
Misses and injuries are disappointing. It’s nice to know that there is a real chance. It’s nice to know we’re not fielding a laughing stock. It’s nice to know the opposition better bring their “A” game, and, that’s probably not going to be good enough.
That’s all Brad and Dan.
This is a statement season!
This is not a hot seat season.
I’m not saying a hot seat. 10-7 missing or sneaking into the playoffs isn’t a good look though. It will likely mean more injuries from injury prone players- or lack of production from the last “3” draft classes.
If you have 3 good ones with lots of extra early picks, and then 3 bad ones what is your legacy?
If Mays, Wonnum, Ya Sin, Clark, Izien don’t produce 3 really nice starters, was our FA strategy good?
I can’t watch 3 straight seasons with no playoff wins after nearly going to a SB and “stay patient.”
Either they prove that Shep was the guy, and Petzig is Ben 2.0…. Monty wasn’t integral, and Branch will still be Branch…. Maybe that we finally fixed the pass rush, and we successfully rebuilt the OL or we didn’t
This team hasn’t added one high impact veteran in 3 years…. Our young core needed help 3 years ago and we still may not have it
But if it is that 10-7, missing or sneaking in as, say a 6th or 7th seed….can you predict the circumstances of such fate?? If all things are equal and that happens you have a point. But I believe, and it’s just my belief, that if this team stays relatively healthy they will win at least 12 games and they will make it to the second weekend of the NFL playoffs. I don’t think, even completely healthy, that they will beat the Rams but it’s not impossible….if healthy
I agree with this entire post sir.
At what point do we blame choices for health and not just bad luck.
Do you play FF? I don’t have any shares of CMC, Barkley, Kittle, Jacobs, Laporta, Daniels, Nico and only one share of Nabers who dropped to round 4
If we lose 6-8 starters again do we blame god, the field which we can change, the hardcore practices, or the fact the guys who are already injured like Moore or injury prone like Payton are risks?
I’m saying that DJ Reed (healthy) Harper, Maddox, Rock Ya-Sin, Chuck Clark, etc., will be okay if they can stay healthy. Yes, I they’re decent NFL players and will look much better behind a front-7 that can stop the run and rush the passer, which last year’s front 7 wasn’t good at.
And, no, in no way does that equate to “we can literally play any players period in our secondary” w/a good DL. I think Reed is very good, and the safeties are solid.
I get you and you are not wrong…at some point us fans have to stop relying on the injury crutch. But I am very concerned about the depth of this team. I said after the first pre-season game that I was worried about two areas, depth at WR and the secondary. Well they have only 4 WRs on the depth chart so that really has me worried. Im never worried about Goff, Gibbs, Sewell, Saint, Jamo and Hutch. Let me throw Campbell in there too because he has a Chris Speilman mentality, he’d have to die on the field to not make any effort or impact. Everything else I believe the Lions have to stay healthy. I know they got hit hard in 2024, especially with Hutch, and still managed 15-2 but I am not counting on that kind of grit and determination if injuries amount to that level again. I don’t trust the overall depth of this team. If it comes to the worse then I guess I can’t blame anybody for coming down on Holmes.
I guess I misunderstood the, “that’s a wrap”, comment.
I was thinking like that at first…because I didn’t realize how difficult it is to lose both coordinators and a bunch of assistants all at once.
Definitely a lot of change
Or maybe it’s just a fan trying to play smartest man in the room because Brad and Dan did something the fan didn’t like. They made it very clear. They dropped the bread cumbles….you say he was a serviceable wr. He was, but not at the cost of culture and GRIT. Dude couldn’t block, didn’t want to block. Isn’t a good look when your ALLPRO wr is blocking his ass off 20 yards downfield and the punt returner gadget “serviceable” wr is not.
It’s the second one for sure. Dortch is a smurf, 5’7 180 so he was never going to be an excellent blocker, however he showed less than no effort to even TRY to block. Hell, get in the path and fall down, you can at least slow someone down and make them take a different path. No, Dortch pretty much ole’d guys. There’s clip videos on youtube showing it as well.
That’s a very fair point.
My opinion doesn’t matter, but until their strategy “works,” they are going to be questioned and it’s clear Brad doesn’t believe he should be. His contentiousness in pressers is fairly unique, and when you go from a gutted roster with league leading “dead cap” to the NFCC in 3 seasons, you get carte blanche. When you turn the #1 seed into a home playoff embarrassment and then miss the playoffs, and then cut a #1 pick you traded up for after 2 years, and then start guys in the PUP that 100% of fans saw coming… a little scrutiny makes sense.
We traded 3 picks in round 3 for Teslaa, and while a few other teams supposedly were in on him, nobody else felt the need to make such a move. We absolutely saw flashes, and many of us wanted and expected to see more of him, but we got a healthy dose of Raymond… then let him leave and signed Dortch. Did the OC we just hired not now if Dortch could/would block? Did we not ask? Seems like we had an easy path to knowing exactly what Dortch was…. Did anyone… I mean anyone in here expect even 10 games from P Turner?
Davenport, Moseley, Turner, CD3, Bartch, Pacheco, Chark, Ceedy, all guys who averaged 4 plus games missed per season prior to signing. Nobody was shocked when they got hurt, but frustrated by having so many injuries.
Then add in Teslaa, Hooker, Manu, Vaki, Bromart, Rolder…. vs Barnes, Kerby, Mac, Iffy- when Brad drafts guys who were 3-4 year healthy starters in power 5 schools in rounds 3-4- he’s incredible… when he drafts guys with injuries issues, small schools, limited snaps- it’s pretty bad
If a handful of the injury plagued discount FA buys, and even one or two of the mid round dart throws truly panned out, then Brad wouldn’t be questioned as much.
However some fans want a SB run or two, we e waited. From 21’-23’ we had crazy resources as a result of being really bad, and his masterful trade. Since then???
Goff, Gibbs, Ra, Sewell, Laporta, Jamo, Jack, Barnes, Kerby, Rodrigo, Branch, Hutch that was the haul from 2 full drafts and then rounds 1-2 in 23’. That’s 10 pro Bowlers or All Pros and two solid rotational players who earned 2nd contracts.
Since…..
Rat
Tyliek
Miller
Moore
Mahogany
Arnold
Teslaa
Vaki
Wingo
Abney
Rolder
Gill Howard
Frazier
Rakestraw
Hass
Bromart
Sorsdal
Manu
A Green
Jackson
Lovett
K Law
Hooker
T West
Thats 24 bullets- that’s bad aim
If Rat and Miller become a a stud and plus starter, and the same for D Moore and Tyliek…. Then Brad recent batting average changes dramatically.
…. Is it acceptable for a GM to have build a SB ready roster in 3 years… and 3 years later- failed to add a single elite player to a roster with 3 plus drafts and 3 free agency periods to work with?
24’— CD3, Reader, Davenport Amik, Zietler,
25’— DReed, Lopez, T Patrick, Stuart, Maddox
26’—- Mays, Pacheco, Iziem, Turner, Dortch
So in 3 full offseasons the only meaningful pieces we TRIED to add in FA (true multi year investments) are Reader, DJ Reed and C Mays and in the draft we have added Tyliek and Rat as a average OG and disappointing DT as rookies…. They could improve, Reed could bounce back, Mays could have a strong 2nd half, and Miller and Moore could be studs.
Without that above series events- it’s 3 years of letting an elite core group age and get much more expensive and not supplementing them.
If you took the Super Bowl winning GMs currently in the league and looked at their entire careers with the scrutiny that you are looking at Brad’s I don’t know if you would have these questions.
Again- I’m not sure why so many choose to defend. Were you on board with Hooker, Manu, Vaki, Bromart, Teslaa? 90% of the Den raged….
It’s not like I expected to be a SB contender by the end of year 3, but we were. We had 11 pro bowl caliber young players as a foundation. We simply needed to add 5 more in the drafts or FA over 3 years…. We saved our cap space like every pick would be worth a big extension. We have nearly 80M next year, and the realty is we have huge stricture opportunities with Goff and Mac, and we have 2 possible extensions with Laporta and Branch, but if we extend or resign the. We should restructure.
Why? If we sign them there is literally nobody since Branch worthy of extending. That sir is the issue. We are all out of guys worth paying and I don’t see any sure things coming soon.
This roster should have supplemented our key core, not waited til they all needed extensions.
We shall see. Brad being really great years 1-3, and us having great teams years 2-4 doesn’t mean we stop having standards now.
But you’re cherry picking examples to fit your narrative. The Den wasn’t happy about Gibbs or Jack either. And not thrilled about LaPorta. And for all that that history is being rewritten, everyone was pretty thrilled about Terrion.
This is so, so easy to say in hindsight, but the fact of the matter is when you’re building a strong roster you end up not being able to play the new draftees as quickly. There’s nothing wrong with taking punts on developmental prospects as a process.
This presumes there will be no development. Current paths are not set in stone. And what about ARSB, Sewell, perhaps Jamo and everyone else who will be worthy of extending AGAIN fairly soon.
Even if the roster fills out with above average and role players, we ALREADY have more elite talent at the top than any other team in the league. In fact depth has frankly been a bigger issue than star talent.
You’re comparing Holmes’s actual, highly successful roster management to a mythical, flawless universe where a GM hits on 100% of their draft picks, signs elite free agents, avoids all dead cap, keeps 11 Pro Bowl players contractually happy. There’s no problem with wanting more (I do too), but it’s unrealistic to expect us to get there by making every move correctly. That’s not how any team in history has gotten there.
I wasn’t on board with Hooker or Bromart, but I certainly was with Manu, and I’m still on board with Vaki and TeSlaa.
The problem was actually Terrion. He didn’t develop like a #1 draft pick, either as a football player or as a man. And there was nothing in his profile to suggest he’d turn out like this, other than his phenomenal ego (which at the time seemed congruous with being a CB).
Due diligence isn’t a guarantee. When you whiff on a #1, you’ve basically created a hole.
And we still have value in Mahogany, Hass, Wingo. TW, Rat, Miller, Moore – that’s four quality dudes in 25-26, with SGH flashing as a Day 3 stud as well. I don’t have qualms about our drafts.
I wasn’t a fan of Hooker the prospect either, but was completely fine with the pick where it was. QB is just so, so valuable, and I’m wrong about them all the time (so is everyone). To get a QB widely mocked in the 1st round in the 3rd, after trading down twice, was not bad process at all. So, didn’t like the player but liked the process there
90% of this board loved Matt Patricia and more than half were defending him going into his last season.
Fans are dumb.
Which is why whenever we want analyse our team long term it should be done through the purview of comparison with teams that have done what we want to do.
Well H-E DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS
Drew Petzing. More like Drew FLOPing
Get it? Because he flopped.
I’ll let myself out 