Why bring back all the former Lions from last yr ? Lets be honest 3-13-1 surely is not acceptable . No major free agents signed . How can this be a plus. We will be cellar dwellers again next yr.
The Future remains to be seen as always.
That being said, I do understand their approach. Let me explain what I’m seeing…
Last year was a debacle right out of the gates. No joke. However, anytime you toss together a new front office, new coaching staff, new starting QB, new personnel across the board and start playing teams with entrenched people at all of the aforementioned, don’t expect the results to be anything more than they were.
Along the journey arc of last season, things also occurred along the way. The offensive coordinator was weeded out for failure to connect. Players came, players went, but the front office and coaching staff remained in lock step consistency in what they were after.
Towards the end of the season, you saw a resurgence. Goff looked like he started to get his mojo back after looking bewildered and lacking confidence to start the year. Players emerged. People were buying in and the results at the end were promising.
Quite simply, in an age of instant gratification, the Lions are going against the grain and taking an old school approach. They are rewarding the people who have bought in. They are betting on the idea that the end of the year was the beginning of expectations to come. That retaining the people with the right attitude and familiarity are going to take this team to the next step, that by showing prospective free agents that this team is loyal to its own, they will be able to attract more than people who are mercenaries looking for a last payday.
They are establishing their culture by doing this. They are also gambling on their approach yielding results pointing north. Whether that’s the case or not, the die has been cast, and all we as fans can really do is hope they are right.
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Eh you’re going to have another year of development from last years rookies and vets in this system, plus five picks from the top 100 in this draft. I’m not expecting to win the division but I do expect the Lions to be hovering around .500 and playing meaningful games in December—at least in the conversation for a wild card spot. This is still a rebuilding year, but if they do anything less than that this season, then their rebuild is failing.
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We always seem to have a five year plan in a win now league.
Maybe this time will be different?
I’m not sure what you wanted them to do. They have to field a team and apparently Detroit still isn’t exactly a destination players are dying to come to. They got a WR which was one of their three huge needs along with safety and LB. They brought back Anzalone who isn’t great, but can at least play well enough that he’s not a total liability and they brought back Walker who was one of the top safeties available. Everyone else was brought back for depth.
I mean, basically everyone wanted A Robinson and Marcus combo but so did fans from like ten other teams.
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This is an extremely valid point. The Lions have sucked for decades and living in Detroit is not too high on most free agents lists, which means we have to overpay to get free agents in most cases. If we start winning and MC/DC turns this team around, that will help in getting free agents.
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A 5 year plan that is usually cut at the 3 year mark.
Resisting the urge to mortgage future for 1-2 wins this season is the sign of wisdom. When you already have built the perennial playoff team, then you consider signing a couple big name FA’s to put you over the top.
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Some fans: Hey let’s sign a bunch of ”studs” to expensive, long-term contracts! It’s the only way to win a Super Bowl this year!
Do y’all realize we don’t have the cap space, because the previous regime did just that? We’re sitting on an absurd amount of dead cap, and would have to mortgage the future by backloading contracts. What do you guys not understand about this? Unless you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness and a prognosis of <2 years, have some patience.
I could swear some of y’all are Lions fans because deep down you root for and celebrate terrible FO decision-making. Lol
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I can promise you that’s not why I’m a Lions fan! haha
I just want to win.
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I haven’t really looked at the contracts but my initial thought was that they could be placeholders. Holmes resigned many of them to low end deals. If we upgrade the talent we can keep them for depth or release them with no major cap hits. Having players that already know the system coming off the bench would be helpful. I’m ok with a guy like anzalone being a depth piece if we grab a couple starters in the draft. He’s also an insurance policy in case we draft a linebacker that needs a year of development. Or isn’t ready to start right away.
I actually wonder about this sometimes regarding myself 
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“When you look beyond the top-38 contracts on the Lions roster, only six contracts have any guaranteed money attached and all are less than $85,000 in potential cap penalties. Some quick math tells you that nearly half the Lions’ contracts have zero guarantees.”
I’m going to just keep posting this until people understand what it means. You sign guys to make sure that if you don’t or can’t replace them that you have covered as many bases as possible. How can this be a plus? How can it not?
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If by doing so you end up with a very weak roster what’s the point ? In the end if you want to compete at a high level you need the roster to do so. Having all this cap space and no large contracts means little if your a 3 -6 win team.
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Didn’t work out very well for Ted Thompson. I know, Super Bowl, but I think they won in spite of him.
TT ran the Packers like this for years. I don’t remember anyone here complimenting him while he was GM. Lol
Ask your average Packer fan what they think of Ted Thompson. Probably won’t be pretty.
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Casa
Subtlety doesn’t work …
I doubt spelling it out will either
Thompson was a much better evaluator of talent than Gutekurnst. Thompson built a really good team primarily through the draft. His fault was not participating in UFA (other than Charles Woodson, Julius Peppers and a few others) to get the players to win a Super Bowl. He’s gutting the Packers future to try to win now and he’s put together a worst team this year than they had last year, but mortgaged more of the future.
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I honestly wasn’t impressed with his drafting skills either. Check out his 1st rounds other than Rodgers and Bulaga. Downright awful.
Gutekunst drafted Stokes, and Alexander. Not sure TT ever drafted a corner as good as those two.
I just know his teams averaged like 10 wins per season under him . . . had to be doing something right and it definitely wasn’t in UFA. Thompson used to front load contracts in the 2000’s to save cap space, but it never got him anywhere.
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Very true, but a lot of that was Rodgers I think.
I think TT was better on Day 2 and Gute is better on day 1. I guess that’s how I see it.
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