It’s the slow time, and Dion does drop a nugget or two. Pretty good breakdown.
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What I like is that he’s just a #2 or 3 check down. Dude will always be single covered. If we actually have a run game as advertised, he’s gonna have a lot of space and always be in 1-on-1 situations. With Hockenson, Golliday, Amendola, Jones, these cats should see a lot of space to work, especially if the OL can give them enough time to let the long pass plays develop, the underneath stuff should be g-r-a-v-y for Mathew.
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You know, I was just thinkin’ and tryin’ not to hurt myself in the process, har-har. I dunno if the Lions will move Ragnow to Center this year permanently, but it might make good sense to do that if he’s better at helping whoever our OG is on the other side from Glasgow. Nothing against Glasgow at Center, but maybe he’ll do better at one of the OG spots too than he did at Center last year. It might be that switching those 2 guys to a different position makes the OL better as a group.
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I was thinking that is what guys were getting at, but I still don’t trust Wiggins and also not a big Wagner fan, though he’s been serviceable, not awesome. I think the thinking was upgrading 2 OL positions by switching them to things they do better/more suited to what they do.
Next offseason we will further upgrade OL and LB. I think Quinn is really going to knock this thing out of the park.
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I dunno BigNatty, I might update WR too, as a top priority. With Ben-Ben, Crosby, and Pope in the pipeline, our OL might not be that much of a problem. How much better will Wiggins or Aboushi be with Ragnow next to them instead of Glasgow? And how much better will Wagner and Decker be with Hock and/or James next to them more often? I am not sure I would prioritize the OL that highly for once. LB maybe, depends on how good Tavai looks by the end of this year. Maybe a CB, depends on how Oruwariye comes along, will he be ready to start next year? Not seeing it this year. Maybe an RB, CJA is probably gone next year.
I think we’re getting to the point where we can finally go truly BPA. This as deep a Lions team as I can remember, obviously some guys will not pan out or suffer injuries that hamper or derail their careers, that happens in the NFL.
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We say this every year, but, there is no reason this team can’t go all the way. No team is perfect.
This one is close. This is the best team we’ve fielded since 91!
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Hope you are right about OL, brother. I’m more pumped than i have been since Barry retired. This is gonna be a competitive team. Love what Quinn is doing. Love what Patricia did w/the D. If Bevell can produce, this is going to get much more interesting than it has been in a long time.
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So does that mean if the team doesn’t make the playoffs (I’d say win a playoff game but I’m trying to be fair …) does that mean it’ll be Patricia’s fault?
I mean, I can’t really find anywhere else to place blame should that happen with a mostly healthy team.
I’m not saying anything about blame before the season starts. This is the Lions. The possibilities are endless!
I love you bud, but I’m not feeling that sentiment. Surely, if this is the best team since '91, it wouldn’t have any issues besides coaching.
Best since '91 is a hell of a stretch. Way too early to make this assumption. Not a fan of DoD, seems to be wanting a job as an NFL network talking bobblehead.
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I feel like we will contend, either this year or next NFS. Things are getting interesting.
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Targeted 39x last season and had 30 receptions, that’s 76.9% completion rate. Over 14 yards per reception but only 2 TD’s. Average to below blocker with a rookie TE blocking at the NFL level on the other side, we’ll see how that plays out. Plenty of room for optimism, with 2 TE sets, learning the chip and roll is a big deal. While this is a Jesse James thread I think that the actual depth that they have at this position going into this season is huge.
Roberts is on a “prove it” year IMO, and that’s if he even makes the team. Not exactly his fault that he had been injured but a completion rate under 50% is not encouraging. PFF had this to say about him going into the 2017 draft…" During the past campaign, the 6-foot-4, 270-pounder received the outlet’s highest overall grade and second-highest receiving grade for a tight end in this draft class. He ended the season having caught 43 passes for 514 yard and 15 touchdowns." HUGE improvement over his previous years, he was projected to be a decent contributor in a 2 TE system and that is where we are now. Hoping he can make step up not because we need him to start but we sure as hell need the depth. On a side note this makes what Quinn did last year even more egregious, counting on this guy to be your #1.
I have little faith in Cunningham, camp body. Logan Thomas is making his second appearance here, first was in 2016 for 2 days before the Bills took him off of our PS. Former QB who ran a 4.54 at the combine, at 6’6" and 250 he looks the part but has simply not shown enough. The QB turned TE is going to have to prove plenty to make it here but it should be easier for him to step up on a team running 2 TE sets.
That brings us to Nauta. IMO he shouldn’t have come out, although it’s hard to say that he could match his numbers from last year. Nothing spectacular from his combine and his size is also an issue. He’s really going to have to turn some heads to make the 53, but I would absolutely put him on the PS where I believe he would be safe.
Definitely a drop off from starters to backups, but at least we made an incredible leap from last season to this season. I actually think that we may not be done, depending on final cuts. If we are truly going to be running as many 2 TE sets as people think, then we need TE #3 needs to be better than what we have UNLESS someone steps up in camp and preseason.
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I read an article that said the #1 team that ran 12 personnel sets (2 TE sets) was in those formations 35% of the time.
If we lead the NFL, 40-45% of the time would be a ton, and there is almost a zero% chance that will be our base set. Seems highly likely we do a lot of it, though. Wondering how big a deal they see depth at TE would be? Carry 3 on the roster? 4?
I feel like with the versatility we have on D, it is more important to have depth on O. Will be interesting to see how all of this shakes down.
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