All my life as a Lions/football fan, all i ever cared about was having an elite defense. Some people like watching the sunrise, or the sunset, or walking along the beach looking at a beautiful big blue ocean, or watching their flowers grow, or hearing their children speak their first words… I like an elite defense…lol.
The #2 thing is a running game. With a top running back.
I still believe even in todays modern NFL that these ingredients are the recipe for winning SB’s. You can be a team that barely makes the wild card, but still win a SB with these ingredients. F-the Erin Rodgers, and P Mahomes of the world. I want them INT’ed, and their RB’s scared, and everyone missing teeth by the time the game is over.
The icing on the cake is an old school BIG LB.
Either way, having an elite defense is heaven for me.
I’m in my late 40’s. I’m a middle aged man. i been around everything about this team. Including the decade of Matt Millen.
So if Bad Brad wants to make all my dreams come true, for the first time ever, with everyone we have (Alim, Hutch, Houston, Paschel, Rodrigo, Walker, Kerby), and after getting ALL these DB’s, in a perfect, but fair draft world, this draft would be my dream. Not even kidding.
I just love the excitement. Nothing fake, or contrived. Real, true, excitement because everyone can see whats coming.
The Detroit Lions are a force to be reckoned with, and not many in this league will stand the test.
This may be the most fun I’ve ever had as a Lions fan.
Same. Its the first time ever I have no idea what they’re going to do. DT is a need for sure, but everything else is like a luxury.
If Carter is there, and he checks out. The rest of the draft is kind of like who cares. I dont know what that feels like because I’ve banged the table for players all the way to the 7th round pick.
If Chark don’t come back, I say we have to go WR earlier than we would like to. If Carter is there at 6, you almost have to pull the trigger. And was hoping Bijan would be joining us, before or after Swift was dealt. So 3 players early. I know I know, won’t happen. But could happen if we use some capital to go back into the first for 1.
I would pass on Bijan early and look more at that interior D role or an elite DE at #6
Rather that Bijan, I would also like to see them draft someone like T. Spears at RB that can come out of the backfield and play the Swift role. We he went down we were far less effective. We have backups to play the Montgomery role when he needs to rotate out.
Of course QB could be in play which I’m fine with if they think it’s the right pick.
By the way I’ve been “Lions aware” since 1962 so you think it’s been a long wait, think what I’ve had to endure, but at least I’ve seen a playoff win…
We have 4 top shelf DE’s and 2 more really good backups.
Hutch, Pascal, and Houston were rookies and all 3 flashed. I was over the moon when we drafted Pascal after Hutch.
I guess it could happen, but, whats the cap hit if we cut Romeo. We just gave Commish a new contract, and C Harris is one of the top 4 (DE’s) on the team.
Lion’s players deserve it, too!
I’m thinking Decker, Jackson, Rags, Goff, St. Brown, Sewell, C Harris. Some stayed when others abandoned ship. Some came to a sinking ship. They all bailed their asses off to keep the ship from capsizing.
I want to see these guys get the ring they deserve!
We’re roughly the same age (though I won’t be in my 40s for much longer, alas), and I used to believe this way as well. I so envied those Ravens teams with Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
But the NFL’s rules have changed so drastically I’ve been forced to accept it’s no longer the way. It’s very hard to build an elite defense and have it stay elite. For instance the Eagles led the league in sacks this year, last year they were 31st. The 49ers led the league in INTs this year, last year they were 28th. Washington was one of the best defenses in the league in 2020 then one of the worst in 2021. The Jags had a fantastic D in 2017 and it fell apart quick. The Broncos Super Bowl team. The Bears the 1st year they had Mack. All of those were elite spike years that ended quickly.
There’s very little year-over-year stickiness on defense nowadays. But on offense? Well we know the Chiefs are always good. The Bengals, Rams, 49ers. The offensive Packers have been good seemingly our whole lives. All of those teams will have spike years on defense, but are predominantly offensive teams run by offensive coaches.
Did you know that of the final 8 teams in the playoffs this year, only one was led by a coach who came from the defensive side of the ball? (Buffalo) And even he’s renowned for running a wide open offense. Same as Staley out in LAC. They understand the importance of offense.
To me you need to try and roll out an average/above average defense that can have spike years while maintaining excellence on offense. That type of defense is capable of getting hot and going on a run like last year’s Rams (15th in total defense in the regular season) or the Bucs the year before (9th). Even this year’s Chiefs were 16th, though of course Mahomes and Reid makes playoff runs a lot easier for them.
That’s literally the only thing stopping mazi from being an absolutely dominating player. He’s so damn slow off the line. I watched him on rewatch specifically for many games. He’s dead last off the line on both sides 90% of the time. It drives me crazy! By the time he moves the offensive lineman is already in his pass set just waiting.
