I love what you’re trying to do here, but I’m struggling.
As I look at the team, the most glaring weakness is the Inside Linebacking corp. That impacts everything from run-stopping to pass-defense to pass-rush.
Next biggest weakness is the RB corp. I know this will rub a lot people wrong, but I’m just not impressed at all with the stable of backs that we have.
After that it’s the interior pass-rush. We need to see interior big-men take away the feet of the QB and make him uncomfortable. I like Hutch and Paschal, but Levi needs to take a HUGE step forward to provide the necessary pressure.
It’s pass rush for me. Right now we’re potential not production. Until i see it I’m reserving my judgment.
Second is secondary. We have most of our secondary coming off injury or major injury. There are too many unknowns.
The run defense I believe will be shored up by moving to a 4 man front. It puts less pressure on the linebackers to make reads, shed blocks and make the tackle.
Our running game and pass offense will go as far as our offensive lineman take them. That’s not a big concern for me at this moment.
Our backup quarterback situation is less than ideal but if our line is as good as we think Goff won’t get hit and we won’t have to worry about it.
Coaching is the last thing I worry about with this group.
With all the young talent we have don’t be surprised if the lions start slow and become a force down the back half of the season.
He is not wrong already some poster said secondary cus we have injured guys coming back an its true not as many as he implied but true.
But RB is also bringing injured back are top two were out hurt then I think near end we were down to a couple.
Its kinda early for this question . From what we have seen Okudah looks like he will be back an healthy the rest are at workouts now an we will have better idea first OTAs.
The biggest injury we don have any info on at least i have not seen any is Romeo . So right now we have Harris am rookies as are starters. Bryant may not make 53 others were just bodies.
I’m not worried about RB… because there will be some cuts still… and…. there are even a few vets still out on the market that could be added if injuries pile up.
The team is much better in all areas over last year. Doesn’t mean we are great, but definitely better.
Goff is better for entering his 2nd year and better weapons.
RB is better with more experience, no one on decline
WR JAMO/Chark more experience
TE Mitchell
OL Another year of experience, no one on decline yet
DT another year of experience, healthy Levi
Edge Hutch, healthy Romeo
ILB - No Collins, can’t emphasize enough no POS Collins
CB - Healthy Okudah, another year of experience
S - Elliott
I went with pass rush and experience - and the two are related. Lions will be relying on a LOT of young guys who are promising but very inexperienced.
Jamo, Swift, Hutch, St. Brown, Jones, Barnes, Sewell, Paschal, Parker, Okudah, Onwuzurike, McNeill, Mitchell, Melifonwu … in all likelihood, literally half the starters on O & D will be rookies or 2nd-year players (throwing in Okudah since he missed all last year)… Gotta be one of the 5 youngest teams in the NFL. A few, like Sewell and St. Brown, shown a ton as rookies, but they’re the exception in terms of past performance.
And that DL and LB group has as much concentrated youth as any other position groups. Again, real promise especially on the DL, but unproven youth everywhere and the few real vets (e.g., Brockers, Anzalone) are pretty uninspiring in terms of pass rush performance.
I’m just looking at spot duty in the case of injuries.
David Johnson averaged 4.3 ypc with the crappy Texans in past 2 years. His last year in Arizona was on a terrible tram, with terrible QB play, and a terrible injury laden O line. In 2020… DJ averaged 4.7 ypc. Sure… he isn’t gonna be the guy a tram counts on due to injury history… but a mid season pickup??? Sure.
McKinnon was actually quite effective in the playoffs.
Freeman ran 133 times for 576 yards in 2021.
Swift ran 151 times for 617 yards in 2021 (4.1 ypc)
Latavius Murray… pretty much 4.2 ypc for the past 4 years… regardless of team.
I’m not saying to run and sign anyone… but it just shows there will be guys sitting on their couch that arent a big drop off.
I went with linebackers (not the rush ends/whatever). I mean Anzalone, Barnes, Davis, etc. I don’t think there is one guy there who I can say will be a stud. We have a ton of maybes, or OK guys. I feel this is probably the lowest potential group as well to make a big improvement. I hope I am dead wrong on this!
Second, injuries. We have a LOT of guys coming back from injury. If they all come back well and hit their potential, we could be a dangerous team. If we still have problems with ragnow, decker, okudah, romeo, Williams, chark, etc, we won’t be very good. Honestly, this is my #1 hangup about the season right now. The injuries and recoveries will have such a huge impact on success.
Rush Defense is the obvious choice. The Lions sucked at run defense last year and didn’t get a Devin Lloyd type LB to address it Oh, well, can’t have everything.
Injuries was my second choice, not so much because so many players coming back from injuries will not be right, but because I think the NFL season is long, injuries are going to happen, and the Lions depth is an issue at almost every position.
This rebuild is going to take time, post Quinntricia.
Agreed, that’s my main concern. Can we stop the run consistently!? Last year we gave up over 2000 yards rushing and got manhandled in several games. Go back and watch the 49ers, Eagles, Broncos and Seahawks games from 2021. They ran it down our throats over and over and over.
