I think it’s obvious that having a good not great rookie QB is the fastest way to win. Once you pay a QB you are basically screwed unless his name is Mahomes and even he couldn’t get it done this year. When that much of your salary cap is going towards the QB you have to be borderline perfect on drafting. With almost 3 of the 4 teams having 2nd year QBs in the final four, it seems like this is the way. What do you guys think?
Yep. It’s clear as day that the way to win is with a QB on a rookie deal. The only QBs really worth paying top dollar are Allen and Mahomes.
Going to be tough for the Lions to build a championship roster when they are paying a mediocre QB $53 million a year. I believe that Goff should’ve been a 1 or 2 year bridge QB for the Lions while they spent a top pick on a guy.
Extending Goff was the beginning of the end for this regime IMO.
Have a great QB
Have a great OL
Have a great Defense.
All at the same time.
WRs are plug and play. Brady mostly had cast offs as WRs other than the couple seasons he had Moss.
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We are paying both of ours 
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Stay healthy. Every final four team was in the top ten for fewest injuries. So were the Bears, Jags, Eagles and Bills. 49ers were the only team in the bottom ten, but because they had gotten a lot of their guys back by the end of the year they barely made it.
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Build CULTURE… find VALUE
Rookie QB could work… or maybe not- the Panthers are about to face a 250m plus decision in Bryce and the Texans with Stroud in 2-3 months…. Start over? It’s easy to say now that Maye, Nix and Caleb are on rookie deals, but I feel like 2nd or 4th team vet wins it all this year. So if NE doesn’t play the easiest schedule in 20 years again next year… and the Broncos regress a bit, and Caleb and the Cardiac Bears finish 3rd in the division and miss the playoffs in 26’… then what? Pay them 300M each or don’t?
Many in here have flirted with Dan or Brad’s seat being warm… what should all these teams who don’t win a SB with their guy on a rookie deals do? The last 7-8 QBs have signs after year 3… not year 5…. NONE except Mahomes won anything in years 1-3… so what do you do?
Goff’s contract isn’t the issue. He’s a huge part of the culture, and he’s an elite player at the highest position of importance.
Mac- ?
Decker- ?
Glass- ?
Reader- ?
Reed- ?
Wright?
- those guys were paid to be much more than they were….
We need to find……
Tim Patrick, Glasgow, Reynolds, Swaggy, K Raymond, Anzalone, Lopez, AQM, Ya Sin for 1-3M per and not fall in love and pay them the 5-8M AAV deals after they prove serviceable. Anzalone has been a deal even on his current deal, but I’m glad we didn’t pay up…
Mac, Barnes, Wright, Glasgow weren’t ever going to be worth what we paid them the moment those deals were inked. Even the Decker deal felt a bit more like “career achievement” package that allowed us to punt on replacing him… versus really believing he was still a 20M plus AAV LT for 3 more years…
The Kerby one was tough as who know Lanier it will be now, but he had earned it up to that point.
There are J Clowney, CJGJ, Byard type deals out there every year. Go get 3-4 vet starters on 1 year deals and this team looks great.
Goff, Jamo, Ra, Sewell and hutch are all good deals and that is the foundation.
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The formula is quite simple:
Be a good enough team to get in the tournament and then score more points than the opposition in either three or four successive games in January and February.
To react too much to the particular way that the most recent champion achieved this would open yourself up to all sorts of sample size issues.
For instance doing so in at least two occasions in my football watching life would lead you to the conclusion that the proper process was to lose your MVP candidate QB for the season and ride the magic of your journeyman backup QB.
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Stating healthy is an important factor and having a good team
The one time we made it deep, we were relatively healthy and had most of our core pieces healthy
Literally two to three plays that had bad player execution cost us a SB appearance, which sucks, but its how it goes
Last year… Our entire defense and monty got injured
this year… mix of bad play coaching, and injuries to two major position groups (Back four, TE room), and unlucky bounces and moments
Literally change one L to a W we were in the post season
Shows how close the margins are sometimes really
The vast, overwhelming majority of successful teams in the NFL have:
- Very good or great quarterback
Plus, at least one of the following:
- Top-half rushing attack
- Top-half defense
This isn’t speculation, I’ve done the math:
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Best way to win is to score more points than the other team. It’s really that simple.
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I hallucinate way more than any LLM.
Pitch yourself to VC. Do it quickly before the mania wears off.
Clowney has been available for years and not that expensive. He produces.
The DE position has been a total failure because its Hutchinson and then nobody. AQM is just another guy but Hutch is an animal so there are going to be opportunities.
How could Brad not persuade some pass rusher that they want to be next to Hutch, two big DTs and 3 LBs to fill gaps almost every down. Just get to the damn QB.
Somehow “we’re good” mentally started.
Ya Sin, Lopez, Tim Patrick all were home runs and available every year.
It seems to be that nobody are ‘Lions Grit Brad guys’. Madness.
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Honestly to me Clowney is just another guy at this point too. Really good run defender, but that’s not what anybody wants.
Good coordinators, qb who can move and good d line .
Good/solid rushing Game - 100yds + per game.
Great/good Defense - Keep opposing teams from getting 100yrds rushing.
Good Quaterback Play.
That’s all it takes folks!!
Play the Raiders
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Really good run defender who keeps contain, and doesn’t allow the 25 yard bonehead dump offs into vacated space. He also gets 5-8 sacks a year while doing so.
Scheme the opponent head coaches in honey trap