Most of the off-season is now over. The Lions mostly kept their own free agents overall but outside Chark, no real free agent help was added. Safety DeShon Elliott may be the second most significant free agent signing of 2022. Not keeping our own but adding a guy from another team. Chark is the top signing and Elliott may be #2. An under-the-radar signing MIGHT be CB Mike Hughes as Mike might end up playing a significant role in the secondary. I really like the Hughes and Elliott signings. Both one year deals.
We lost Flowers and Nick Williams but neither of those guys played a significant role in 2021.
We kept Charles Harris, Josh Reynolds, Kalif Raymond (on a two year deal), Tracy Walker, Anzalone, Center Evan Brown (I really like keeping Evan) and most our coaching staff.
We had a defensive draft signing starters Hutchinson, WR Jameson Williams (I LOVE that addition). DE/DT Josh Pascal (likely a critical rotational player), safety Kerby Joseph (a role player who may work into a starting role later in the season or next year) and the a TE, LBers and a CB.
WR looks like we will be significantly better but that isn’t saying much! Jameson has the draft pedigree to be a #1 and Chark is likely a solid #2 leaving Amon Ra as a playmaker for us. I like that we can have that group together for year if we want to. That is a solid top three (when Jameson is healthy of course) and we have Josh Reynolds as viable depth. There is a lot to like there. Kalif Raymond is the likely #5 WR and we have Cephus and a bunch of young guys to choose from. I like that position group.
The OL looks great for 2022. RBs are the same overall. QBs are the same overall. It is easy to see how the offense will be better in year two with Ben Johnson in place and Amon Ra in year two as well as having Chark in the building too. The Lions scored the 25th most points and it is easy to see this group being closer to the midpoint of the league in 2022. That WR room was awful in 2021. I liked Tyrell Williams but he was never a factor here and Goff and Lynn never connected either. We are clearly in a better place on offense.
Defense continues to be the question mark. The Lions were awful on defense in 2021. 31st in points allowed. Bad. Really, really bad.
To change the issue the Lions added NO proven players at all on defense. That really is shocking. We added Hutchinson, Pascal (is he a DE or a DT here?) and MAYBE safety Kerby Joseph can help in 2022 but he is likely to be better than Will Harris but by how much as a starter IF he becomes a starter? Further…os Elliott a strong safety starter here with the Lions using a lot of 3 safety looks?
CB AO is likely to be extended and I would LOVE that as he is a legit player for us. And yep, Okudah will be back as will Romeo Okwara but what do we have in these guys?
LBer seems to be a “throw players at the position to see who sticks” kind of deal. Derrick Barnes needs to arrive for this club to have any hope at LBer in 2022. Jarrad Davis isn’t going to save us. BUT…I can see a competitive situation thing happening and there are a LOT of LBers in camp right now and maybe that will yield something better?
Honestly it is hard to see this defense being midpoint anytime soon. Just too many question marks. Okudah? Romeo Okwara…what will he be able to do in 2022? What can Hutchinson accomplish as a rookie? Will Barnes step up? Can Levi show up? How good is Alim? What role with Pascal play? How will we handle the safety position when Walker and Kerby Joseph really seem to be free safety guys?
While I don’t expect the defense to be good it will be fun to watch this develop as we at least have options now. This smells like a team searching for an offensive and a defensive identity. And if they find an identity on both sides of the football this team MAYBE can push for a Wild Card spot. It seems likely that this defense will continue to drag the team down. The Broncos, Eagles and Seahawks embarrassed this team on defense and it is hard to say right now this club would perform better against those teams with the players currently on the roster.
Thoughts on this roster at this point? Seems like this offense should be a lot of fun to watch. It also seems like this defense is more likely to remain bad versus being good. I hope I am wrong.