This is an Expansion Team

The War Room Detroit Lions — The Den
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And I’m loving it! A total rebuild like I’ve never seen from the lions. They are scrapping errrrythang. GM - gone. Coaches - gone. QB - gone. I anticipate some of the higher priced vets to be gone in the near future.

I know some fans need to mourn the loss of Stafford. I get it, and respect it. However look at these hires! MCDC I was unsure about, but Holmes and Dorsey and Disner in the FO… Glenn and Lynn as coordinators. Talking about bringing in Duce Staley too. Guys - get hyped. Even if this doesn’t work out, what, another 12 years of no playoffs? Been there, did that. I’m just excited to start from scratch. If it blows up miraculously at least it will be fun! Lol

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Yep, it at least makes the Lions interesting again.

It will be fun to see how this all turns out.

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In all honesty, good for Sheila. She’s clearly decided to put her stamp on this organization and do things differently than they’ve been done here before. I will hold off on further criticism of her for the time being. (But not Rod, that guy’s still a weasel dammit.)

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And here’s the thing that no Lions fan understands, because they haven’t seen it in their lifetimes …

… when you suck, and get high draft picks? If you have competent people in charge, you start stockpiling difference-makers, and soon you don’t suck anymore!

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Jesus, this is why I hate this board sometimes.

The same people who bitch about 9-7 getting amped up for 2-3 win seasons. Whoop-de-do. I guess 6-10 will feel like some major improvement in 3 years rather than the disappointment that it is.

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I think the answer to you is, because when 9-7 is your ceiling, that’s not exciting. Thats a smidge above mediocre, an almost certain 1 and done on the odd year that 9-7 gets you to the playoffs, a middling draft pick that keeps you a middling talent infusion and puts you on a path for 9-7 again.

At least if we have to suffer through 3-13 and 4-12, the hope is that with a legit football scouting front office, you can flip the script and go `13-3 or 12-4. Like the Colts did, like SF did, like Green Bay did, like the Chiefs did.

The problem with the Lions in the 2000’s, was with Millen, they sucked and went 2-14, 3-13. Then due to terrible drafting and management, their ceiling was 6-10, 7-9. In the 2010’s, we did peak at 11-5 at one point, and then returned back to .500 level. We pushed for more, and completely collapsed. This team wasn’t built correctly.

This is all hope at this point, but the idea is that even though the next year is going to hurt, IF the Lions finally have their front office in order to find talent and IF Campbell really is a coach who can motivate guys, we could build a real football foundation.

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An expansion team gets the advantage of having their entire salary cap.

The last time we were in this position was 2009, when we drafted a franchise quarterback…

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Super excited. I think our drafts got a whole lot better. We are good there. I hope we can continue to stack the coaching staff. I hope some surprise is up their sleeves yet, maybe a Marvin Lewis as a Defensive Advisor/Assistant/Co-DC? Maybe some more big names as position coaches? Keep 'em coming!

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Maybe they can pay Calvin his money back to be a WR coach.

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LOL - Love this post, my man!

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He, hey hey now…

The only similarity between Rod Wood and me is we have names that should be attached to characters in the Boogie Nights movie.

(Mine is an old work nickname, The Velvet Hammer)

Don’t ask.

Really.

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Perspective- the Bills are 13-3 in the AFC Championship

Buffalo has a tough draw for free agents. Cold, high income taxes, hadnt recently won.

In 2016 they whacked Rex Ryan, and finished out with A Lynn as interim head coach.

THE ONLY STARTER STILL ON THE ROSTER FROM “2016” IS JERRY FREAKING HUGHES.

2017-
-They pulled T White, D Dawkins (rt), and M Milano (lb) out of 2017 draft
-They pulled J Poyer their D captain as a mid priced FA safety, and signed Micah Hyde to a big safety contract to be the stud he has-

2018-
-They pulled J Allen and T Edmunds as centerpieces of their offense and defense round 1!
-They signed defensive starter T Murphy a solid mid tier contract.

2019-
-They pulled Ed Oliver, Cody Ford, Dawson Knox, and RB D Singletary in the draft
-They signed Mitch Morse, and 2/3 of a great wr corps with J Brown and Cole Beasley.

2020-
-They pulled Z Moss, A Epenesa, G Davis, and kicker T Bass

Free agency and trades in 2020 was the icing- they traded for league leading WR S Diggs to be their #1, they signed a pair of cheap veteran CBs in J Norman and Ej Gaines, and AJ Klein 5 sacks and Mario Addison 5 sacks to help rush the passer

So now that Allen will want his 35M a year payday. They have 10M already.

So Tyler Makatevich, Vernon Butler, and Jerry Hughes would save about 18-19M in 2021.

So they could easily navigate this with no problem. Likely even bring back Hughes at 33 for say 2 years and 15M with a cuttable year 2.

Edge
CB
OG

No real “need” and successfully drafting G Davis to the tune of 600 yards and 7 tds with 17ypc, makes cutting J Brown reasonable next year

IN THE LAST 4 YEARS THE BILLS HAVE ADDED EVERY PLAYER BUT HUGHES!!!

This front office needs to extend Ragnow, extend Hock, get Swift a running mate and find value at WR

Guys like J Davis, J Okwara, T Walker, AO, J Okudah, need to be back and have their athleticism maximized in scheme.

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when was the last time The Detroit Lions had 10 wins 6 or seven years? I’d welcome that with open arms double-digit wins . hell 9 wins is more than we have had in a while-it would be an improvement.
not GREAT but better-than we have been lately.

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Can people please respond to this thread. I want to talk about the Lions and most of the board is endless debates about Stafford. Really? With ALL the other news?

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To your point, repost;

March 6 Offensive depth chart

QB- Chase Daniel/My pool guy

Rb-Swift/KerrydOff/My lawn guy

WR-My neighbors lawn guy/My neighbor’s pool guy/My neighbor/Quintez Cephus/ Quintez Cephus’ pool guy/Quintez Cephus ’ lawn guy

TE-Hock/Sweet Jesus it better not be Jesse James/ Hunter Bryant/Bryant Hunter/James Jesse

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Im the polar opposite, sorry.

I have zero faith in this franchise. They have consistently killed anything good they’ve been lucky enough to get. A bunch of new faces and the promise of garbage ahead does nothing for me. There is zero reason for me to get excited. I’ve seen this to many times. 0-16 was just the latest. The idea of getting excited for next yrs miserable season and some magic beans seems like more punishment for having the audacity to be a fan.

I am to the point Im about done. If by some miracle they are competing for anything in 3-4 yrs if I have not completely cured myself of this curse, maybe I’ll care. I’m running out of yrs to see a winner. I’m virtually certain I won’t see one in my lifetime. My dad was lucky enough to see the last Lion’s Championship 64 yrs ago. He’s one up on me. I was at the only playoff win in the last 64 yrs, whoopie

Sorry to be a downer, but that’s where I am. They don’t deserve any faith, certainly not until they earn it, and I’m done holding out hope.

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I have seen it. Let me tell you a little story about a punch drunk former Linebacker and a hot name offensive coordinator who became GM and HC of the Lions in a complete overhaul of everything they did. Yes, let me tell you about Matt Millen, Marty Mornhinweg, and the beginning of the nine years of nightmares.

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The devils came riding in on Harleys and talk of high bars. That story still gives me nightmares.

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Anyone who is a fan of all the major Detroit teams should absolutely know that entering a phase of total rebuild doesn’t necessarily end well. It can lead to many many many years of misery.

Do folks even watch the Pistons, Tigers, or Red Wings anymore. They have all been in rebuild mode for the last decade (+). But at least all of those teams gave us the glory years as well.

Excited about going into a rebuild? Not me.

And now were about to lose the only good thing about this team.

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Quintricia left this team looking like a steaming pile of feces. There is nothing else you can do but blow it up.

And I welcome it!