The Rams made the highly questionable moves of:
-
Dumping the young-ish QB that had taken them to a Super Bowl, had multiple seasons with playoff victories, and who they’d just given a huge second contract to.
-
Paying a king’s ransom for a 33-year-old QB who’d never won much of anything, who had some history of inconsistency and who’d recently had two seasons of back injuries.
-
Taking a general approach of discarding high draft picks in favor of trades, free agents and going all-in to win now.
It was risky as hell, and just entirely paid off for the Rams.
Now, what about the Lions?
I contend that this is the most important off-season since at least 2000, when they over-reacted to Paul Edinger’s last-second, 55-yard-field goal knocking them out of the playoffs, swept house and hired Matt Millen.
Oops.
From a draft compensation standpoint, the Lions just got the worst possible scenario. 32nd. Ugh.
Perhaps the Lions can take heart – it looks like MAYBE this Rams team isn’t built to go on a several-seasons run; it probably can’t resign everybody. So maybe next year’s 1st-rounder will be quite a bit better.
Then again, I was under the impression their offensive line was going to be considerably worse this year, and the way it protected Stafford was a key to this run to a championship.
The whole idea of moving Stafford was predicated on getting a bunch of draft capital that fuels the rebuild. And the Lions did.
Now, Brad Holmes must deliver on bringing the foundation to the Lions’ next successful run with those picks, and their own picks.
If they hit, this team will be in contention for NFC North titles and playoff runs beyond one-and-dones for the rest of the 2020s.
If Holmes fails, we get more of this shit.
I can’t remember a more crucial off-season. Am I wrong?