Something Special in Detroit…

The War Room Detroit Lions — The Den
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It’s hard to believe that we can be optimistic for the 2022 season, but at the same time all in for 2023! To have a FO and coaching staff that has turned a depleted depth chart and broken room into what we see today in just 12 months is incredible.

We had no talent, no leaders, no money, and no real reason for hope when Holmes and DC took the reigns and immediately accommodated Stafford’s request for a trade…

  • the it started…. The team sought out some “glue guys” by bringing in Anzalone, Brockers, and especially J Williams…. They took some cheap fliers with upside in T Will, Q Jefferson, J Reynolds, and C Harris and two of them panned out quite well…

  1. We have a proven 27 year old QB with pro bowl upside, playoff experience, and we have 3 years of relatively cheap team control over his at 31M per year-

  2. We have the #14 most cap room headed into 2023, and when you consider we could free up 25M more by moving on from Brockers, Romeo, and Big V- we have a ton of financial flexibility.

  3. We have multiple first round picks to add to a team with surprisingly few holes after being some talent deprived one year ago…

  4. We have a coaching staff other teams are interested in poaching… some are nervous about this, I’m floored. If Glenn gets his shot, then Pleasant steps in, and if Pleasant gets a shot at DC, and Glenn doesn’t for HC- then the same guys who assembled this cast have the chance to replace them to a far more attractive job than it was 2 years ago-

  5. I think you will see a Steelers, Ravens, 49ers, Titans type roster and run over the next 4-5 years-hopefully one that ends in a ring!

2022- I know there are some nerves about the health of- Jamo, Romeo, Paschal, Jacobs, Okudah, but I feel a bit of the “next man up” vibe with this team…

Goff
Swift/Williams
Chark/ASB/Reynolds
Hock/Mitchell
Decker/J Jackson/Ragnow/Big V/Sewell

Hutch/Levi/McNeill/C Harris
Barnes/Board
AO/Walker/Elliott/Okudah/Iffy

  • consider that we finished 3-2-1 in Goffs last 6 starts last year, and our defense gave us a real shot to win 2 of Boyles 3 pathetic starts….

WE DIDNT PLAY A SINGLE GAME WITH A ROSTER LIKE THE ONE ABOVE- NONE!!!

Knowing we have battle tested backup OL players in Brown, Nelson and Kraemer, and big upside guys in Jarvis and Obinna gives me ton of faith in our OL-

Seeing glimpses of Swift’s upside and Williams consistency last year behind a make shift OL, and the fact that Swift really only had 3 full games after the bye week (he was hurt by the time Goff/DC offense hit stride) is more reason to be excited about our run game!

Seeing what Pleasant and Glenn did with AO, Jacobs, Parker, etc last year gives me huge optimism for K Joseph, Okudah, AO, Iffy, Elliott, Harris etc this year. Hell, Hughes could even be our C Harris for 2022?

2023-

The really excited part is already knowing we don’t have to plug holes, start over, or make tough decisions in 2023…

Goff
Swift/J Jefferson
Jamo/ASB/Reynolds
Hock/Mitchell
Decker/Jackson/Ragnow/???/Sewell

Hutch/Levi/McNeill/Paschal- C Harris/J Okwara
Barnes/M Rodriguez
Okudah/Walker/K Joseph/??- Parker/Iffy/Jacobs

  • REALLY THINK ABOUT THAT!!!

For 2023- we could cut Romeo, Brockers, and Big V- have 45M in cap space, great draft capital, and only 2-3 real holes to fill?

We should have AO locked up for a 3-4 year extension by then (I hope)…

—- BREAK THE BANK TO SIGN D Payne to line up next the McNeill….

— I think I’d let Hock play out this year and knowing we have him locked up in 2023 as well should lay off giving him big money right now.

  • I would let this year be an audition between Hock and Chark for who gets the 60-70M deal….

  • we have the flexibility to keep or cut Big V- though if he plays like last year, I don’t see a reason to cut him and overpay for someone else’s fee agent

——Assuming we extend AO, keep Hock on his current deal, keep Big V, sign Chark and go big on D Payne-

2023 draft-

  1. LB
  2. CB
  3. RB
  4. TE
  5. OG
  6. OG
  7. RB
  8. K
7 Likes
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I agree with almost everything you say.
In todays completely stupid WR market, you need to draft a Receiver to develope, relatively high, every year.
Make that 3rd round RB a WR.

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Maybe-

I assume we re-sign Chark for a 3 years 51M extension by mid season… he will love it here. He will be appreciated here. We will also need to feed ASB, Hock, Swift, Reynolds and Jamo so I think more than 65 catches for 1,050 yards it incredibly optimistic.

This I doubt he gets a mammoth deal as teams will shy away from big money at WR after this FA class disappoints.

With Jamo and ASB intact til 2025 plus, and Reynolds, Cephus and Raymond intact til March 2024-

We are 5 deep for 2-4 more years for sure, and Chark would make us 3 deep for 3 plus years and our depth 3 deep for 2 more years.

We have nothing in stone at LB, CB is still a bit unclear unless we re-sign AO ( please), and OL will take some thought…

Rags and Sewell for sure 4 more years…

Decker seems priced right for 3 more if he stays healthy

  • I see this year as a competition between big V and J Jackson- if Jackson balls out then I think we see a big extension for 4 years and 58M next offseason which would really be a 5 year 59.5M deal off the last year of his rookie deal. If we manage that way we stay cheap in 2023 and in 2024 it pops up…. If Big V is a stud this year- then the 3 years and 30M left isn’t too bad and may give us pause on a huge extension for Jackson.

If both ball out we possibly keep both for 2023- but I’d expect Jackson to hold out?

Bottom line I’d say Edge and WR are full of guys under 27 that need to playing time and using high draft picks at either would seem wasteful.

CB, DT, OG, LB, RB are where we could use some cheap contracts and some years under contract.

D Payne Is my favorite player/Fit next year in all of FA….

Hutch, Dream, Payne and Paschal is sick with Levi and Harris rotating in

Imagine adding a Javonte or AJ Dillon type, a stud CB and a pro bowl LB in rounds 1-2…. And a cheap replacement for Jackson or V in 3

4

17m per for Chark? No thank you. If he’s getting 17m I’d rather take the high comp pick in '24 and save that money and roll it over to when all our extensions start coming due. We can pick up a capable WR3 on day 2 of the draft.

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Does a one year deal qualify for a comp pick?
Also, I thought he had voidable years
I think this was answered in another thread but I don’t recall …

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The 49ers are slated to get one for Arden Key and he was only in SF one year. I don’t know about the voidable year part. @DeadStroke?

Still not giving Chark 17m per.

7

Yes

If the voidable years are part of the original contract or they don’t reduce the number of years the player is under contract, then it doesn’t affect the players contract for compensatory picks.

If a player signs a 5yr deal and then they reduce it to 3 years with voidable years, then the contract does not qualify for compensatory picks.

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So just to be crystal clear if a WR hungry team signs Chark at 17m per next year then we’re getting a 3rd or a 4th round comp. pick?

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If we don’t sign more UFA’s than we lose and we don’t sign a $10M plus UFA. Yes, we could.

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Right. Forgot to include that part. Thanks for the clarification.

I think Brad really wants to get the roster to a point where harvesting comp. picks is a significant part of the process. I know Ozzie Newsome is a big influence. Between the Ravens history and that of the Rams you’d have to think he likes that way of operating. Just have to build the team to that point first.

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If neither Deebo or Diontae Johnson make it to the open market then Chark, provided he plays well, likely gets a Kirk type of contract due to the dearth of options.

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Like I said awhile ago an another poster said this earlier . I hope Lions draft a WR in every draft before rd four or very early in rd four.

What teams are paying for WR is way over paying. Think how many times they even get a the ball thrown to them. Yes some WRs have good years an some are studs but i would rather have 5 or 6 good WRs at half the cost of what the studs get.

The 10 million we are paying for one this season is about as high as I would want to go.

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If Chark has 65 catches for 1100 yards and 7 tds on 105 targets I’d pay him 17M per…. For 3 years.

Ra and Jamo will cost about 4.5M year collectively the next 3 years….

Reynolds and Cephus will cost about 4M collectively per year…

So if we got Chark producing like a WR 1 or even a top WR2…. I’d have no issue with our entire WR room making 26M per year

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