'Tell those guys to be careful:' How Detroit Lions pieced together LB corps after injuries

The Den
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We’ve got a coaching master class going on here.

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Good article. What an amazing job bringing
in these players into this system.

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I’m not giving Derrick Barnes anything but the minimum.

Turner looks as good as Barnes. Rodrigo as good. Jalen looks good.

Sorry Barnes you can look for a check somewhere else or play here for the same the PS guys are making.

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I definitely would give him more than the minimum but i probably wouldnt go beyond 3.5-4.5 which still likely means he leaves

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I wasn’t kidding when I was asking in threads who the F is turner? (okay playing it up a little) Now it’s even funnier that Shep didn’t know who the f this kid was.

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Cap approves this message. Barnes “will” be playing elsewhere in 2025.

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Yep. Barnes is on his way to another team to finally be the All-Pro Mike LB that the Lions have tried to sandbag for years.

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I think you guys are underestimating Barnes a little here. He was an edge for a while at Purdue before switching to LB later in his career and is uniquely suited to play SAM for us. Rodrigo and Turner don’t have nearly the pass-rush upside we prefer from our SAM backers. Turner is a WLB all the way and Rodrigo is probably a WLB/MLB hybrid who’s a good blitzer. Nowaske is more of a true SAM for us but he’s not nearly the pass-rusher Barnes is, at least not yet.

It’s a unique skill set we require. There are a couple of guys in the draft who could do it - Jalon Walker would be great, and Jihaad Campbell probably would too - but they’d require high picks. I’d be very surprised if we didn’t bring Barnes back on a cheap, short-term deal.

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I think Barnes is a good player, and I hated him getting hurt both for him in his career in a contract year, and for the Lions losing a quality player. I hope the Lions can find a way to work a good deal with him, but I do think he will chase the money and a big opportunity by heading to another team.

As good as the Lions have been without Barnes, it does make me think the position loss can be mitigated to an extent. The Lions have done as good of a job as you can possibly hope for of finding bodies to keep offsetting the losses. Everything has a breaking point though, I feel we have been lucky to stay on this side of the razor’s edge. I am at least encouraged by the fact that if we can find street free agents to help offset unexpected losses, then I am sure we can find some real help in the draft when we know we have to backfill an expected loss.

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It can for sure, but it’s not the way they want to do it.

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:100: Agreed! I hope Barnes is willing to sign a 2-3 year deal that allows him to return from injury, still be a LB for us and allows him to sign a 3rd deal down the road. Wiw, Win.

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Injury history may cause him to come back cheaper? AA and ‘Jerm’ are getting older…suuuure would be nice to have guys that already fit, have talent on board when they bow out in retirement.

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But seriously tho

Who the ■■■■ are these guys?

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When my son and I were watching the game, we were doing that same routine. We know football, we know all of the Lions players, even the ST guys. The game against Green Bay though, we were like “Man, what a play! Good job… uhhh Williams? Who is Williams on defense?” “Who is number 10 at linebacker?” “Who is #66 and why does he look like Great Value James Houston?”

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Exactly!!!c @Thats2
Barnes primary position is SamLB. None of these other players execute AG’s vision as well as Barnes was prior to the injury.
I’m pretty sure Barnes will be back.
He had what was thought to be a season ending injury and never left the squad.
Most players pack up and go home.
Cominsky, Davenport, Peko, …
Barnes is an original Holmes pick and is embedded in the culture of this team.
The injury and the fact that Barnes is primarily a SamLB will allow the Lions to bring him back at an affordable contract.
Most teams don’t use a Sam LB very often and it is not considered a starting position.
I think Barnes is a Lion or signs with AG if he gets a Head Coaching position.

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Barnes——–Nowaske— ——Niemann

Campbell —— Rodrigo——Kwon

Anzalone ——- Turner——- David Long

….JRM ———- Jamal

It’s honestly insane where we were 2 years ago at LB to where we are now

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Personally I’d do it like this, at least in the future:

Barnes-----Nowaske------Adams
Campbell------Rodrigo-----Long
Anzalone-----Turner-----JRM

Kwon becomes a coach, and Niemann to the PS or let go.

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AG- 2 comp beans

Shep = DC future comp beans

Kwon = LB coach future DC

The pipeline

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yeah I think Barnes is being underrated by some in this thread. He was one of our most versatile players. Now we are cheating guys over to the strong side because we aren’t as confident. It limits what the defense can disguise and do.

Same with how the offense is adding TEs to the back side to help skipper. It means less quick route options for Goff.

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