Brad did an amazing job taking this team from the depths of a garbage team, to a respectable team. its easier to build a team when its a blank canvas.
But its much harder to build a team from good to contender. Filling KEY holes in the roster. And so far Brad hasnt.
His draft picks since 2023 after Branch haven’t played on defense.
305 available snaps.
Bro Mart - Cut
TA - Jail
Rakestraw- 54
Wingo - 0
(Williams obviously 162)
Amed Hass - 0
Jackson - IR
Moore - 52
Rolder -7
Abney - 25
SGH has played the most after Williams - 136
West - 0
So none of the draft picks have made the team better. what about FA?
Well the guys hes brought in, arnt as good as the players that left, weather it was FA, Trade, or Draft
SGH isnt as good as DJ Reader was
Levi isnt as good as Lopez was
Moore isnt as good as AQM was
(On the field) Wunnom inst as good as Davenport was
White/Rodrego isn’t as good as Anzalone was
McRrary isnt as good as Robertson was
Reed isnt as good as Davis was
I could even include offense with this,
Nobody replaced Raymond.
Nobody replaced Monty.
The only position Brad has improved is Center. Every other position has gotten worse. Between that and how arrogant he has acted about the DE position, or the DB situation. His seat should be ROASTING.
Whether it should be roasting or not is a great debate, and I’ll let yall have that one, but I do wonder how tied at the hip Dan and Brad are. Like, would they get rid of one and keep the other?
Regardless I think the lions ownership is loyal and both will get at least one more season.
The last time the Lions defense was this statistically bad was 2008 (0-16) and 2020 (5-11)…and Sheila said that 9-8 wasnt good enough after last season and wont be acceptable again. Soooooo….make of that what you will. If this defense doesnt get significantly better, and fast, and if Sheila was serious about her words, there very well could be a chopping block ahead for Brad and/or Dan. Historical data states there’s no way this team finishes close to a “not good enough” 9-8 with the current defensive trajectory.
I agree its a bit early on the 26 class. But were here 4 games in. And SGH is the only one doing anything. Like i was shocked to see Moore has 52 snaps. Does he?
But the track record. Branch was the last good defense draft pick that is making a net positive impact. That was 3.5 years ago! (Yes Williams but again, you mess up on a first round pick your in trouble)
So why do i believe that Brad will all of a sudden do well now?
Im at a point where Brads picks have to prove themselves. Vs from 21-23 it was “oh these guys are gonna be good no doubt”
Our offense has 10 of Brad’s picks starting, with 2 more picks as depth (+1 on IR). The rest are fa/udfa’s.
Our defense’s draft picks are:
5 starters, 2 IR/PUP, 9 depth players.
fa’s make up the starting squad, plus Devin White in a depth role.
We’re drafting defense, we’re just not as good at it, LOL.
That’s a stark contrast, by the way. When your offensive draft picks result in one of the league’s most impressive offenses, but your defensive draft picks equate to depth players instead of starters, it’s noticeable. BB and Kerby would tip us into positive territory, as would Ennis if he develops. 8 vs 5 starters is the difference between C and F grades.
I have figured Brad out! He’s about getting a few stars just to save his job. Honestly, I don’t think he knows how to build a champion. To build a champion where skilled players are plug and play, you start in the trenches on both sides then a dominating defense. This guy is focused on skill players which doesn’t work when your trenches and defense is bad.
Think about all the picks this guy has fumbled during the draft. Yes, he has taken some quote on quote great individual players but even with that being said, this defense shouldn’t be this atrocious. Come on, this sh?t resembles the 0-16 team. It’s bad. Teams run the same plays over and over and the Lions are out of position every single time.
They’ve swung and missed at a respectable rate.
They’ve taken unnecessary risk with injured players when availability should trump all (as witnessed in their preference of Miller this year). I don’t like being on a board full of fans that think they’re smarter than the GM, but I like even less a GM that learns lessons those bullish fans were questioning him on 4 years ago.
We’ve suffered terrible circumstances that we can in no way attribute to the GM with the loss of BB, Kerby and Arnold.
At some point, though, you have to move off your ideal of building through the draft. You have to recognize your situation and pivot. Either acknowledge you and your staff struggle with certain position groups or simply that you lost tremendous ground through no fault of your own…. but you’re on the hook for salvaging THIS year’s team. Love the vision for a home-grown roster in the future, but you owe it to the Hutch/Campbell/McNeil/Sewell/Gibbs/St Brown/Goff’s of the team to shoot for a championship.
Because what are the odds a high caliber player is gonna be available that fits your scheme in the 1-3 holes in your roster at your draft spot? Very very very low.
Miller? Only one on defense? Look at when we broke the glass with Kerby. Mid year-ish. I imagine that we’ll see that with Rolder ahd Moore. But it seems like Rolder blew a couple assignments early and he didn’t play a ton in college as a defensive starter so perhaps that is further out. I believe that Wonnum is playing well and I think the team does too so that may also slow Moore’s rise.
I will say there def has been recent struggle with drafting on the defensive side of the ball lately but also there isnt much you can do as a GM when the Best Safety Duo in the NFL (Who yes, DO ALOT OF WORK ON THIS DEFENSE) get injured with career altering injuries.
Brad did try to apply Band-Aids to the DB room, but mainly focused on fixing the trench’s this offseason (and both look improved, we can all agree on that I would think)
2026 we cant properly judge for another couple years, Moore and Rolder both are dealing with injuries.
I think there is a bit of talent in that secondary but this scheme is just hot dog water. The Dline is actually good and is getting in QB’s faces, its what everyone has been clamoring for, but Recievers are open 24/7 in the back constantly, that someone is always open for the QB to get the ball out even with a guy right in his face.
No matter what, this isnt getting fixed until this offseason mainly, regardless of personal, this scheme is so ass it would make Revis look bad.
I would argue that perhaps the biggest crisis on defense is one of identity. We don’t even know what kind of defense we want to be anymore. We used to have a very defined lane. We were a man heavy team that played amongst the most amount of press man and single high. It didn’t have great results but at least we knew who we are?
What are we even now? We’re just this melange of awfulness. I don’t see any holistic defensive identity or approach.
I agree and once again thats on Shep at the end of the day. Alot of it traces back to shep atm and it shows that he really just wasnt ready to be a DC yet, the scheme is all over the place, this team isnt built for Zone, your making an All-Pro LB look like a practice squad player with how bad it is (Campbell hasnt been playing the best in the world either, but this scheme is making him and the LB corp look so much worse)
Bye week, we lose to AZ, Shep is Demoted and i think we see Kacy Rodgers or Jim O’Neil take over (Leaning towards Kacy) playcalling. will be a yes man, but Dan will tell him to go back to the AG defense i think or just chaos blitz idk
Shep for sure but I also think there has been a disconnect between scouting and the defensive coaching during the Holmes-Campbell regime. Take AG’s scheme. If you are going to play that way IMO you want lighter twitched up LBers that can excel in space. We never attempted to add even one of those.
This is of course a false statement. The majority of winning teams hold onto most of their draft capital. Why post things like that which are so demonstrably false?
Barnes but he can’t cover worth sh?t and he’s scared to tackle. If these coaches don’t see that on tape then they are ignorant to the fact or straight blind. This is comical and it’s not like these are young players! These are vets!!
Honestly if we continue to struggle, and if we miss the playoffs this year, things are going to get dicey. The setup, with Brad and Dan, and no clear heirarchy is going to make it messy. This often leads to whoever has a better personal relationship with the owner. On other franchises, for some reason.. usually the GM wins out. Personally, I think this would be devestating. I think Dan is the main reason we have been brought out of the depths..