This team is in trouble

The Den
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I was having a debate with one of my buddies. My stance is build through the draft. Keep doing what they do. But he wants to go all in.

In the end, I think he’s right.

We can’t go back to when we were good. We have to be better than our best season. Right now, it looks like it’s going to be worse.

Offense - I disagree to the bone about going full on with Gibbs which resulted in Montgomery wanting to be traded. The two headed monster they were was a big part of that offense. I don’t know if Gibbs can handle everything they want to through at him. But i get it. If he can handle the load like CMAC, or Bijan then yes give him the damn ball because he could be the best.

Borom is not better than Decker injured. Mays is no Ragnow. The OG’s are not better than Zietler. The OLine will be slightly improved, but not that elite level it was. If they draft an OT and he’s as good as Decker in his prime then they are elite again possibly, but they would just be where they were not better.

Defense - It’s in shambles. AA will be missed. No Kerby, no Branch, Tyleik hasn’t shown much and Alim had his worst season coming off injury. Reed was terrible when he came back. Arnold was injured. We know nothing of Rakestraw. The only sure bets on defense right now is Aiden and Jack. That’s it.

If this team wants to compete for a SB next season then they have to go all in on the draft. Meaning, trade up twice. Get two first round picks. Even if it means sacrificing your 1st rounder next season. Look at the Texans when they drafted Stroud then traded up using their 1st the following season for Anderson. Worth it. Teams are trading first round picks, multiple first round picks for elite players to make superbowl runs. Instead of high priced free agents, go all in on the draft!

But do it for defense. If Brad really thinks Borom is a starting caliber tackle then run with it. Even without an elite OL, the offense was not the problem. They were still among the best.

I don’t trust 2nd, and 4th round picks and later. ARSB was a lotto win. Others might take a while to develop. This team needs guys who can make an impact now!

For the first time since the BH/DC era give us a top defense. Thats the only way they will be serious contenders. And if they go all out in the draft and take one of the top DE’s plus another top defensive players like Styles or Downs and then we have a real chance.

Just my two cents.

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Thing is, next year’s draft is considered generational and this one weak after the first round.

It would make more sense to trade down this time around and add picks for next year. But they do have a crying need at OT, so that’s a toughy.

I will say Brad tends to zag when others zig, so who knows? Not me.

As far as your point about defense, I have to agree. They do however need to sort out the OL. That is a non-negotiable as far as what make this team tick.

But they HAVE made a lot of solid investments on offense and can stand to throw a lot of resources at the D going forward.

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You some valid concerns but it’s a very glass half empty viewpoint.

You assume no Branch and no Kerby, which I don’t believe to be true. You dismiss the new olinemen as no upgrades, which we don’t know. The OLine, especially with the right draft can be very very good. Rat was good LY and should make a big leap and our depth there should be much better, too.

Anzalone was a valuable player but it was time for him to leave. We don’t know what that position will look like yet but I’ll take our chances. You’re also dismissing Tyliek and McNeil when we all know they should both be much better this year.

Our offense is elite and should be at the top of the league again. I hated losing Monty but he just wasn’t used enough with Gibbs being one of the leagues best. Good problem.

3 last points:

  1. The draft will bring a new infusion of talent
  2. We do have to believe the injuries will not be as bad as the last two years. Injuries happen but we’ve been snakebit.
  3. We are playing a last place schedule vs the murderers row 1st place schedule from last year. We STILL had a winning record against that with just about everything going wrong.

We won’t know anything until September but I like this team to be the best Lions team we’ve seen yet.

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Well put!

If they choose not to extend Laporta, and Branch and Kerby are both cooked, then yes of course we are tending worse sans 3 pro bowlers entering their primes.

Mac is a big man coming off a blown knee… he’s doing jump squats at 20 pounds lighter than last year right now. He will be a menace in 26’

Tyliek? Derrick Brown had 2 sacks and 34 tackles in 730 snaps as a rookie. Tyliek has 1 sack with 4 PDs and 18 tackles in 446 snaps. I expect a 3-4 plus sack and 50 plus tackle sophomore year. We had Reader making 12M, there was no reason to force him into a massive workload.

We could easily see Kerby week one, and Branch had the speed-bridge surgery with no setbacks that suggests an 8 month timeline to 100%. Maybe week 4-6 for Branch?

I think Barnes will be much better as well

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I fully disagree with this half empty look at this team. First, this is incomplete until after the draft. Second, you reference evidence that may not be true. Joseph’s status is unknown as is Branch’s status.

Injuries have been the killer last few seasons, not talent.

Is Mays worse than Ragnow? I don’t know but Mays is bigger. Zeitler isn’t a Hall-of-Fame player. Ratledge likely is us better than Kevin was in 2026. LOG easily can be Glasgow 2024 level good/better. Decker wasn’t good in 2025. Can a rookie perform better than 2025 Decker? Yes. TeSlaa sis better than Josh Reynolds. Levi is back. Tell was a solid run stopper as a rookie. Year two likely a big jump for him. Our 2nd DE is better than 2025 Davenport. Reader, Lopez and even Anzalone are all replaceable. Alim a year removed from injury. McCreary is better than Amik. Rock Ya Sin is a known guy here now. Arnold likely healthy.

I will miss Monty but I am excited to see what Vaki and IP can do here. I choose a different viewpoint.

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They might not be super bowl contenders this year. This team is flawed. Now because of the SOS and elite offense I do believe they will win 12-13 games. But there are questions. Ragnow was a generational talent so he is going to be a hard act to follow. Tyliek was better then you are giving him credit for and the same for Tate. The question is and has been injuries. Can they be healthy. Several of the defensive questions are injury related (Reed, Arnold, Joseph, Branch). Joseph might very well be cooked. It doesn’t look good. Branch the hope is he comes back strong but next year might be a recovery year.

Not touching the trade of next year’s picks because others have said it really well already. Just doesn’t make sense and it doesn’t accomplish the goals and hopes you have.

Personally, I say ride out the season, no matter what happens enjoy it. Enjoy the 12-13 wins and just be happy the Lions are playing fun football. Now next year…..with such a deep draft…..if we are a elite DE away from super bowl contending….then you trade up and get him you fill out the roster with deep draft prospects and next year be the year.

But we don’t know how it will all turn out. This offense is too good for it to be bad I think last year was the floor. The Lions are never going to have necessarily an elite defense unless we draft stud after stud. We don’t need an elite defense, just a better then bad. Before all the secondary injuries last year it looked really good. But the lions have chosen to focus on the offense as their best bet to be elite and it has be proven wise. An example of a team who has done the opposite would be the Texans. All that money in the defense but such a horrible offense. Who knows what we do….but please don’t trade next years number 1.

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Billy Madison Shut Up GIF

Trading high end capital from a potentially awesome draft for more access to a middling one is very bad process.

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They might be.

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I hope.

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That would still make for a very fun season. I’d take that and be happy.

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I agree with most of what you say although not to that extreme. I do think a trade up is necessary to acquire better players. This is where I disagree. I think the trade up should be to package some day 3 picks to move up into the 3rd round where this draft does have an abundance of talent. I would not touch any of our first 3 picks in next years draft.

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It’s 2026. This is the NFL. Parody remains the theme. Single elimination tournaments are by nature a fickle bish. If we win 12-13 games we fit the definition of contender.

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Nail the draft but DO NOT trade our 2027 first or second round picks. Preferably just leave day 1 and 2 untouched if we can’t add 2027 capital.

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If they use some of next years draft capital it’s not like they can’t use draft capital from the year after next to replenish what the used this year.

Yes, eventually it will catch up with you but if you’re going all in…….

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But it doesn’t work that way.

2026 is going to be a bottom 25% first round in terms of quality. A lot can happen in one year but 2027 is virtually assured to be top 25% with a very real possibility of being in the 5/10 percentile of first rounds. It will be cost prohibitive to move from 2028 to 2027 if it is even possible.

Adding a second first round pick in a cruddy first round is simply atrocious process. I’m one of the biggest Brad slappies but if he does that my opinion of him would degrade significantly. As it should.

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Any link to a video or source? Would like to see.

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I found a few things that show he is putting in work.

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There will be very few teams willing to trade 2027 picks.

All drafts are not equal, and the 2027 draft has a very deep group. It would take a major overpay to use 2028 picks to get 2027 picks.

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This idea the 2026 team is flawed seems odd to me. We have a legit, still young QB who started a Super Bowl (Goff), we have a dominant OT (Sewell), we have maybe the best RB in the game (Gibbs), we have a trio of WRs who are the envy of the league (St. Brown, JaMo and TeSlaa), we have a fantastic TE in LaPorta, we have young guards with viable competition and a big, young center. We have some depth on the OL now.

On defense we have All Pros in the (Hutch), LBer (Campbell), and our stud DT Alim (when healthy)We have a more-than-solid CB crew. Tyleik is an exciting young g DT. Injuries at safety cause us concern but we have solid veteran answers to get us through.

Give this team another draft and I think we will fave a shot to be really, really good again. Need luck/health. I don’t see AC n issue with that structure.

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Let’s get thru the draft, TC and the preseason games first and then Hope we are injury free at that point and just try to win the opening game!!

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I like the way you think. That’s where I am at. I want titles but I also want relevance. This NBA season has been a huge success for me regardless of what happens bc I had something to look forward to and watch after a long day of work and dealing with life. So yea….i like the way you think.

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