Let me start by saying I love just about everything this group has done since arriving in the D. I’ve loved the coaching hires from coordinators through positional coaches, and I’ve grown to like DC a lot (he obviously did something to make all former players want to work for him) as result. He seems like a buyable leader of men.
That said, one or two knee jerk reactions is all it would take to topple our future before it even starts…
Goff needs to have 1000% support from our coaching staff, front office etc through week 16 period. We passed on #8, Bridgewater and a 5th for what “could be” a late 20s pick, a late teens pick, a 3rd and Goff… If the move was simply to get a stop gap, the 20’ #8 is worth far, far more than projected later picks 1 and 2 years out. A group who knew Goff, saw the value in his combo of age, contract, experience etc- and how it could gel with the vision for this offense is a large part of why the Stafford trade was robbery…
IE- we made the Bridgewater trade… Took Fields at #7, took Sewell at #8, then used the free agency money we’d have had by acquiring Teddy G vs Goff, and spent that on a top defender. Teddy vs Goff would be a minimum of 8M saved for 21’ and 20M plus 22’ and beyond. We could have signed a 75M free agent defender easily on a 5 year deal with those funds and a rookie QB contract for 5 years, I assume Holmes factored that…
We make a bonehead roster move in a knee jerk reaction to something media driven, or something the regime “thinks they see…” We passed on Fields, Parsons, etc for Sewell, and we did so with Decker in place. I sure hope this proves to be an even more successful Lane Johnson type pick. A stud veteran like Jason Peters at LT, then Johnson gets drafted and moved to RT and they make a string of Pro Bowl TOGETHER! We have a relatively cap friendly deal for a top 12 LT entering his prime. Even trying Sewell at LT at some point this year (barring injury) would infuriate me. See Conklin going #8 overall as an All American LT and sliding to RT to bookend with Lewan and reel off 5 straight winning seasons. Neither team supplanted the successful veteran and pissed him off to appease a rookie. Sewell is a top rated run blocker, Decker a really solid pass protector, once this group gets some time together, they will be elite.
IE- there are only so many resources at a teams disposal. Going from the #10-12 LT in the league, to the #4-5 only has so much impact if RT isn’t a strength too. That is “hoping” that a kid nearly 2 years out of football becomes a top 4-5 LT. Right now RT was our weak link last year, and RG wasn’t much better. If Sewell achieves half his potential this year we are immediately better, and with a monster ceiling.
We make a “shocker” preseason roster cut to show “HOW MUCH SMARTER OUR FRONT OFFICE AND COACHING STAFF IS THAN ANYONE ELSE…” I truly, truly, truly hope that J Collins, J Williams, J Okwara, Big V, and C Harris are all on this team, and slated for solid reps no matter what- at least until week 8. I already know that Collins and BigV likely cannot live up to their contracts. At this point it doesn’t matter if a 11M guy is playing like a 4M guy, you have to keep and play him UNLESS you have depth and a couple guys ready to play at 5M plus level production to replace them. Teams often get hung up on a guy living up to his contract or draft slot expectations, and treat moving on from said player like it’s an isolated incident in a vacuum.
IE- I don’t want to see the locker room cancer that will begin to grow by cutting JOkwara, dropping J Williams down the depth chart, or showing big ticket FA signings out of town too quick. Romeo re-signed here to play with his brother.
He has that support and he knows it. There won’t be any snide passive-aggressive McVay-esque backstabbing. Goff will hear the truth from the staff. Goff either grows in this soil or McVay had a point that I don’t want to acknowledge.
Holmbell–pronounced awfully close to “humble”–are so far ahead of the media that it’s hard to imagine the media being any factor in any decision. DTs with our 2nd and 3rd picks? No receiver until the 4th? Starting AJ Parker ahead of Ford or Robey-Coleman? Holmbell ain’t influence by no stinkin’ media…
Don’t expect Holmbell to be Wicked Smaht. If you don’t understand or are “shocked” by a roster move, keep an open mind. Quintricia PTSD lingers in most of our heads and it’s going to take a while to trust again.
I highly doubt they cut J Okwara this year. I think he got a lot of reps because he needs a lot of reps, he barely played (played at all?) last year. And I don’t think they move on from him that quick. Also I don’t think they would be that cutthroat when R Okwara did sign here to play with his brother.
The only “major” cut I see happening to a recent draft pick is Tavai. I feel bad for the guy because he was drafted 3 or 4 rounds too early and it’s not his fault he was a 2nd rd pick. But alas. I think they keep Pittman over Tavai at this point.
I also hope they find a place for Kevin Strong. That guy just brings it every game. Maybe not the best, most talented, etc but he always comes to play.
Agree with all of this! Actually with all 3 replies from you, Curious and Sofatso.
I’m not worried about them actually doing anything in my post. It was more of a…”this is the only way they could lose my trust” type proclamation.
I’ve already read dozens of posts whining about how Fields not imploding against a 3rd string defense is a sure path to regret for our new regime.
Others about Parsons.
Many about Sewell not being the right choice, or about why playing him at RT is ludicrous.
J Chase- 1 catch
Lawrence, Z Wilson and T Lance- 32 combined attempts!
Parsons- 2.5 tackles
Pitts- ??
D Smith-??
J Waddle- ??
I’m not exactly sure which 1st rookie performance other than Fields who led them all in snap count, and did so solely against backups and camp fodder, would have us second guessing Sewell?
Again I am not worried or suggesting our guys make the missteps I have outlined, simply stating that is what it would take for me to doubt them is all
There has never been a GM/FO that’s made moves everyone agrees with. Eventually they’re gonna do something and we’re all gonna go, what? They’re gonna get some of them right and some of them wrong, you just have to hope they make more good moves than bad. Even Quinn got it right over us once in awhile, like the Golladay pick.
I totally get that. Especially as lions fans, we are definitely not used to having so many positives surrounding our team with a lack of any real negatives. And I think a lot of us have the “ok when is the other show going to drop” and trying to temper our enthusiasm because nothing ever goes how we want it to go. And I agree, all the things you mentioned in your post would be some serious red flags, which I don’t think there have been really any red flags yet and they’ve been on the job for 7-8 months now! Progress!!!
I remember when we got MP, I wasn’t on the forum at that time, but I was excited yet a little apprehensive because he was just coming off a Super Bowl where they gave up an insane amount of points and yards to the Eagles, but a lot of people were calling him this amazing coach so I sided with the positivity angle. Then the rape allegations came out of nowhere, and while it was not football related and also he was never convicted that cast a real dark shadow and all the backpedaling from the organization and him was like, 1000 red flags. Then he started pissing off the team and it was just problem after problem.
So, coming fresh off that fiasco, I think it’s a bit of a shock to the system to see an organization make such a 180 turn and seemingly be doing things in a very fresh, collaborative way and have so much positivity and optimism.
Anyway sorry for the rant, the TLDR version - I hear ya and agree dude!
Yeah this for sure. They will make mistakes like everyone, just minimize the affect of the mistakes and maximize the outcomes of what you get right! (Like resigning guys you developed instead of letting them walk for nothing)