Not a good close out to the 2025 season in terms of stopping the run. With the season on the Lions the Lions lost to the Rams, Steelers and Vikes. Each team averaged over 5 yards/carry against us in those games. In total the Lions allowed 547 rushing yards on 84 carries for a 6.52 rushing allowed average and 7 TDs. Wow. Just ■■■■■■■ wow. Early in the season we were solid V. the run. Hard to win big games with a defense like that against the run. So…what do we have at this point?
Alim McNeil- I expect him to be closer to himself so far removed from his injury but damn. there is concern there.
Tyleik Williams- I expcect a better season in 2026 but his rookie season was solid, esp. against the run.
Mekhi Wingo- didn’t really play. I like his upside but what do we have here?
Hutch- complete player.
Rookie Ahmed Hassanein- didn’t play. Total unknown.
I expect Roy Lopez back as he was a solid addition and we need him back.
That is it folks. Tyrus Wheat and Tyler Lacy didn’t work out. Davenport didn’t work out. Muhammad wasn’t a complete player. Not only did our OL fall apart our DL just didn’t perform well either. 3/4 DTs will be back but we have only 1 true DE on the roster. Yikes!
I expect Josh Paschal back on a minimum deal and if healthy he can help. I expect Holmes to take the savings from Decker and Glasgow and finally get serious about DE. Trey Hendrickson, come on down! We need a real answer past Hutch. I also expect the draft to bring a young, promossing guy too. Likely in rd. 2 or 3. Hutch, Hendrickson, a rookie and Hassanein might work. We also have Tyler Lacy as deep depth if we want him. Chris Smith is also on the roster in 2026.
Even if we sign Hendrickson, Paschal, draft a DE AND sign Roy Lopez I feel like we are a DT short. I would feel a LOT better about DE with Paschal and Hendrickson in the fold. But Alim, TyLeik, Lopez and Wingo feels thin. Free Agent $ is an issue so we likely need to look to the draft to add more talent at DE AND DT.
There is NO mystery that the OL and DL fell off. I feel like the OL is a free agent center and a top rookie LOT away from being pretty good again. The DL needs Hendrickson and then STILL draft work before we can get back to being Kings of the North. Tough spot to be in but that is where we are. Thoughts?
Those 3 games were killer. I personally point to the Steelers game. That’s the crux of the argument for me. For Sheppard, I have no gripe if/that he’s staying. But by that game alone, i would understand a demotion.
But then I remember what he did with a bunch of Canadian players vs Tampa.
Here’s one thing I would like answered… why, after those three games, were we so good against Chicago, the best run offense we faced over that stretch statistically. Was it just knowing Ben’s tendencies? Were we more up for it? Different scheme (I know we ran a little more zone)?
To me, the answer to that question might be important re: going forward. If Shep was just stubbornly sticking to a scheme and finally admitted defeat and changed it for Chicago, well then maybe things aren’t as bad as they seem?
A lot of the gashing occurred at our flanks which we defended poorly most of the year. Even they first Bears game in which it was the only thing they could do colpetently.
Right, which explains why AQM, despite his pass-rushing prowess, was still mostly used as a DPR.
What did we switch up in the Chicago game, do you know? The one game I haven’t gone back to yet because the season was over and I wasn’t watching to prepare for the following week.
I know this is antithetical to the DNA of The Den (which is to talk transactions / the draft), but I think the largest improvements to be made are scheme and time on task.
The defensive side of the ball needs a better scheme and/or play calling. The talent is there for this to be a top-third defense. All we need is top-half to be successful, IMO. That’s not too much to ask.
The offensive line is largely time-on-task for the new guys. There need to be long-term answers at center and tackle, obviously, but the scheme also needs to adapt. Don’t ask a Glasgow-level guy to do Frank Ragnow shit in the run game.
There are enough needs where I don’t see Brad being purely BPA in the draft, but I also don’t see him reaching for mediocre talent. OT or DE seem most likely for our top picks, but I’m not going to lose my mind if that’s not how things shake out.
Me? Of course not. Though are we sure that it’s one factor. A couple things I find relevant.
I think our pursuit performs better on grass. Or I guess really offenses with speed advantages are less able to outrun angles.
I remember watching Daniel Thomas make multiple perimeter run stops. Tackling skill guys in space is his forte of course. Unfortunately the pass coverage stuff doesn’t seem workable enough to leverage that.
I don’t have any recollection of DL early down usage so I got nothing there.
And of course there is always the aspect of maybe the other guys simply didn’t execute well.
Fair enough. I keep meaning to go back and watch but I’ve already put that season behind me and it’s hard to drum up the motivation, even for a win. Maybe before FA kicks off…
Jack Campbell is a hell of a LBer. Anzalone wasn’t as good as he was in 2024 but he is also. Losing Branch hurt.
Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes Lions football means (to me) having a serious trench advantage on both sides of the ball. We couldn’t do that on offense and our D got worse as the season wore on. Reader just wasn’t the same guy. Alim not close (understandable in his case). Lopez was really good. Wingo wasn’t ready physically after a late 2024 injury himself. again, no credible 2nd DE.
I feel like the DL, like the IL, lacks talent. Even size add Hendrickson and draft a DE in rd. 2 I think we need another DT.
We need the best DL and OL play to win the division again. Pieces are there but the whole isn’t complete yet.
Right. The Addison TD run for 65 yards killed us in the Minny game. Other than that one run (looking at you Barnes), we really finished the year up with two solid performances against the run. (Minny and Chi).
Right. You could argue C as well, but maybe that can wait until Day 3. We also have some sneaky needs at S, TE, and LB esp if AA is gone. Could be the year for some trade downs. I’d love to have at least two Day 2 picks.
Thanks for that. Like I said I need to look into it, but that was my biggest cause for alarm while we were sort of falling apart there at the end, but it seemed like we might have gotten it somewhat righted rather quickly. I just didn’t want to say anything without really digging into it.
I will continue to push that the loss of both Safeties and Arnold had the biggest impact on the Run D. The why has been addressed in other threads more than once.
Doesn’t mean we don’t need better play everywhere but in many ways it starts there with how Detroit uses their safeties in run support and Arnold being strong in that area as well. Then the trickle forward to LB’s and DL reponsibilities.
Last couple of games KS seemed to have changed his scheme a little bit as mentioned above to hide some of those issues. First year DC
Right. Run the ball on offense and stop the run on defense. You wanna win big in the NFL you need to have the better OL and DL. Right now Brad needs to work on both and $ is limited.
