It’s really a difficult question as it is as much about injury returns and shifting guys around as it is replacing them.
Easy ones-
Penetrating DT, rush DE, CB2, box safety, slot receiver, OG.
Shifting guys around-
The “Decker/Wagner Way Too Much $$ for mediocre play” Continuum
The “We Have 4 Starting LB under contract but hate them” Conundrum
The “We Can Not Trust CarriedOff Johnson” Situation.
So, thoughts?
Rb, lb.
Definitely need to address RB, RT, EDGE, CB.
Agree with these, plus RT, LB, QB2 and…
Coming soon… CB1. I know it’s not popular, but I don’t think Slay will play here next season.
This I like…
24 !
Penetrating DT
rush DE
OT
RB with home run ability
CB2
Slot Receiver
LB
OG
(depends on Slay staying/leaving too)
I put my wish list in order
there’s a part of me that says take the cap and money and sign and draft everything you can to make one side of the ball ridiculous. I would lean toward offense (even tho I love defense) but the league is set up for offense so go hog wild. Build the defense to be good enough for like 1 stop and just win all your games 45-42.
They didn’t sign him when he wanted to do it. Now, he doesn’t want to be here.
He’s been vocal about Diggs.
Is Quinn going to overpay a guy that doesn’t like his HC?
I don’t think so.
Seattle just found their replacement for Sherman.
And we just downgraded the position.
Progress, Lions style.
Draft Brown for Penetrating DT. Assuming Young is off the board, then sign one in FA because young should be the pick.
Sigh Chris Jones or draft Curtis Weaver
Not sure about box safety.
Sign Amendola
Our guards were both top 10 as per PFF.
Sign a RT. Decker was actually top ten as well as per PFF.
Move Christian Jones inside, move davis outside.
Paired with Bo, Johnson might have be better as well.
I’m not sure how PFF ranks OLmen, but I don’t trust it at all. I feel like Bevell makes the OL look way better than they actually are, by using TEs and RBs as extra protection. If we had better OL, we could use our TEs differently, and Mathew would be that much more effective. Just my thinking, based on what I see. Adding some beef would help the run game a ton, too. I wanna cut James and use extra OL the way we used to use Reiff his rookie year (extra TE-ish blocker). Save a lot of money, and be similarly productive to James (while saving a crapload of cap space)
I don’t understand how they’d save a crapload by cutting him in 2020?
James’ cap hit is 5.279 mil next year. If cut prior to June 1st, it creates 8.266 mil in dead money. Even if designated a post June 1st cut in order to spread the hit out over multiple years, it will create 3.979 mil dead money in 2020 plus 1.429 mil dead money each year for three MORE years in a row in 2021, 22 & 23.
https://overthecap.com/player/jesse-james/4008/
Even if traded POST June 1st vs cut, the Lions would still be on the hook for the signing bonus portion of the contract…or in other words, 1.429 mil each year over the four year span of 2020 through 2023.
Good question. I thought I knew last year, and we went directions I didn’t see coming.
One thing is for sure, we either need an amazing secondary or a better pass rush.
every draft pick and free agent ! can’t have enough talent on Detroit Lions !
I was going to suggest we could use any position except center. This basically says the same thing (if you look at positions with no yellow or red), except it adds QB and WR. But given that our QB can’t be considered an ironman any more and our WR’s are only here until 2020, I’d stick to the view that every single position is in play except C, where we have Ragnow and Glasgow.
I’ve been toying with the mock draft simulator and a lot of my favorite drafts have the Lions drafting AJ Epenesa (DT/DE) and Julian Okwara (OLB/edge) falling to us.
I didn’t get the AJ Epenesa love at first, but the more I ponder it (and the more I watch him) I can see how, if they think Flowers is an adequate 5 tech, they could use another long athletic guy on the defense. It allows them to do some things.
There is also something to be said for the kid from Auburn. Even left tackle makes sense.
i agree about James. I like him but not at this price. I liked the way we used Reiff. I wish we found some way to do that again. Im not sure either how they rank OL, i just hear them referenced a lot.
I’d change your list a little bit:
Penetrating DT (A’Shawn wants out I think, he wasn’t a penetrator anyway)
rush DE (take Chase Young if he’s there, get your DT later)
OT
OG (if Glasgow leaves)
Slot Receiver (if Amendola leaves)
LB (if they upgrade the DL then the guys we got might be okay. Still draft one though)
CB2 (I think Oruwariye is gonna work out, but I’d draft a CB anyway)
RB with home run ability (just not my biggest worry)
Problem: 8 guys on the list but only 7 picks that I know of. We got a 5th rounder for Diggs but gave up our 7th I think). Maybe the Lions pick up an FA or 2 to cover some of these needs.
