Detroit Lions: We're Going to Bite a Kneecap Off

Loaded question. I think he got the absolute maximum out of the hand he was dealt.

They will be better, much better but that will be more due to overall health and not a change of defensive coordinators or scheme. He held the defensive together as long as he could but no team in the NFL can lose that many starters and key backups and still win. Glenn obviously has the mind to win as a DC but if that translates to Head Coach success we won't know until next year, plenty of talented coordinators have failed as a HC.

I doubt he will be one of them, his players seemed to genuinely love him. I remember reading an nice article about a veteran player (may have been Amik Robertson but doesn't really matter) who said Glenn was the first coach he ever had that actually talked to him as a person about stuff outside football, how he was doing, what he wanted to do in life, had him over for dinner with wife and kids. You could tell it meant way more to him than just normal film study.

Just my uneducated opinion: I think Glenn will be a better HC than DC. I think he'll build a good culture and get a lot out of his players, similar to Dan Campbell in some ways. On the DC side, there were a lot of people calling for his head last year, but our CB room was legit worst in the league. We went out and traded for 2 CBs and drafted CB with our first and second round picks, and the defensive side of the ball started playing a lot better... until we lost 65% of our two-deep to injury. Defense looked awful the back 35% of the season, with the exception of the W18 Vikings game, which turns out was just Darnold turning into a pumpkin. Hard to blame Glenn when we were just decimated by injuries; we might have had a very different story if DPOY-level Hutchinson wasn't lost in W7, along with starting and backup LBs, CBs, and DTs throughout the year. OTOH, it was really painful to watch a rookie QB calmly read Glenn's blitzes and punish them again and again last week.

I was really hoping we could pull off a prolonged swap and bring in Saleh.

They play heavy man coverage. Their defensive scheme is not complex. It relies heavily on players making plays. It works great when you have the talent to run it. The Lions defense was legitimately one of the best in the NFL, especially against the run. It will be fine if not very good next year. It sucks the coaching staff is getting decimated but Dan is still at the head of it all and knows his ****. He's the one who very quickly tossed Anthony Lynn aside for Ben Johnson when it wasn't working. This is the price of winning in this league, and I think they'll be fine despite it.

Bump time because we have a draft class.

DT - Tyleik Williams.
Project to be another solid 3-tech DT who can stuff the run and collapse the pocket. He was the best run defending DT in the draft, and we know this teams identity on the defensive front is to stop the run first. I like this pick a lot if the guy is anywhere near Alim's level. I expect to see a lot of him, especially early in the season as Alim recovers from his ACL.

OG - Tate Ratledge.
This guy was mocked to Detroit a lot as a pure Dan Campbell type guy. He's a mauler in the run game and pretty solid in pass pro. He was one of the better OG's in the draft and Brad moved up a few spots to try and pimp the Ravens. There's both a short and long term need at guard and this guy is pretty likely to be a starter this year.

WR - Isaac TeSlaa
This sort of rounds out the Lions need for a big bodied but still speedy outside receiver. He may sit this year behind Tim Patrick. Brad Holmes really loves his athletic but raw talent guys in the 3rd round. Time will tell if this gamble pays off. Hopefully he sees some sub packages this year.

OG - Miles Frazier.
A pretty athletic and large guard who could potentially play some tackle too. We see another Brad Holmes double dip as we now flood the offensive line with new blood to see if any of these guys can make it. At the very least he's probably a solid backup and swing O-Line.

Edge - Ahmed Hassanein
This guy has Dan Campbell dude written all over him. It feels like he was born to play for this Lions team. Given the need at this position, his level of effort should earn him some reps this year, especially if Marcus Davenport or god forbid Hutch goes down at all. I feel like guys with this attitude seem to stick around in the NFL even if they are less physically gifted than some others. He's been the darling of this draft class.

S - Dan Jackson
A good college player with questionable athleticism for the NFL level. This team does not have a ton of safety depth so he has a decent shot at the roster by default, especially if he fits in on special teams. Otherwise my expectations are basically 0.

WR - Dominic Lovett
He'll have a hard time breaking through in a crowded WR room. Unless he pops off in the preseason, or is an ace special teamer, he's likely headed for the practice squad. He's a good athlete who needs a bit more seasoning, but maybe projects as a Kalif Raymond replacement some point down the line if he sticks with it.

Overall the Lions mostly got dragged by the media for over drafting guys. On one hand I get it, why move up to get a guy if the perception is he will be there when you pick later. On the other hand, I give absolutely zero ****s about any of that if these guys end up being good. Holmes has earned the benefit of the doubt unlike any Lions GM ever. The other knock was not going Edge early. My only counterpoint to that is that you don't get top tier talent at Edge at pick 28. Realistically pick 10 is about as far as those guys ever fall. Just look at Josh Paschal. Dude was a 2nd rounder and is of questionable value to this team. Would you rather have another Alim or another Paschal? Because to me the answer is obvious, and we got another Alim at pick 28. Hassanein is an intriguing prospect who we got in the 6th round. It's best to temper expectations of a 6th round rookie, but it's hard not to love this kid. But the main point is, you're just not fixing your edge problem at pick 28. Maybe time will prove me wrong, but good starters at edge are rarely found that late in the draft. It's just too valuable of a position.

Great post.

ROAR. Go Lions!

This is basically where I'm at with it. Prior years I might've panicked a bit or become a tad anxious about the process. But now I just respect his gangster and wait to see what he's envisioning out on the field.

I project Tate to be a hall of famer.

He was practically in tears, gripping a lions hat when he was drafted.

Sold on Tate the moment I saw that glorious mullet.

If Ahmed was 6'5" he would have been a top 10 pick.

Don't give a **** what the experts think about "value", I want to see guys drafted that can play.

The problem is everyone gets anchored to the Mel Kipers and Dane Bruglers of the world as if that's some sort of established baseline and all that matters in the draft is if you got guys earlier or later than like 5 "experts" in the media forecasted. Have your fun with it now because none of it matters once these guys take the field.

new inside the den draft episode dropped. they sure do have conviction in their guys!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Q9kQf7...

Had to dig this post up because I knew it was in here. Sucks his career got cut short. It sounds like that toe injury was really brutal. You can't question this guys toughness, he played through everything. Hopefully he's just chilling fishing somewhere.

We've had an elite O-Line for a few years now, but that era may be coming to an end. Decker is no spring chicken. Hopefully he is still playing at his usual level because I think having him and Sewell as the anchors on this line are critical. I dont' think we can afford for either of them to miss time.

we suck

That was as deflating a loss as you could have drawn up. Morton looked awful, iOL looked awful, Dline & secondary looked awful and/or defensive gameplan from Shep looked awful (hard to say which it was).

I'm desperately clinging to "they call W1 overreaction week for a reason." But yesterday's Lions looked like a borderline .500 team ceiling.

Yeah I told my friend that they look like an 8-9 team.

Hopefully I’m wrong.

Gibbs is our offense X factor.

Much better. There was a lot to like about that game. It's good to know that this is still the offense that can and will put up 50 on a weaker team. TeSlaa has 2 catches and they are probably the top 2 circus catches in the NFL this year. I see why they traded Tim Patrick.

TeSlaa certainly looked very good in pre-season and glad to see it carried over to real games. Will be very interesting if/when they decide to start using him more frequently.

One of my all-time favorite draft day vids when he gets his call and his friends and family are so excited for him and probably assuming he was headed to Jacksonville until he says 'ms ford' and they explode.

Early returns on this draft class are fairly positive.

Tyleik probably leading the team in passes defended so they could always consider cross training him at CB, Ratledge looks like he can hold his own at guard for now and the long term plan is probably at center, TeSlaa has show enough so far its easy to see why they traded up. Lovett made the roster as a 7th round pick - which is about all you can expect

Frazier, Hassanein, and Jackson all get Incomplete grades due to injuries. Obv Lions knew Frazier was going to need some time and the other two were just bad luck.

Lions gonna keep roaring.

We're so back.

Cleveland's defense is elite but thankfully their offense is trash. That could've been a much uglier game, which is a super weird thing to say about a 24 point win.

Losing Reed for the season would be quite a blow :(

Hamstring injuries can linger, but unless it's major it seems like they are rarely season ending. My irresponsible premature speculation is that this is a 3-4 week sort of injury.

5-2 at the bye. Not a bad start so far. The O-Line has been good not great and it's lead to some struggles in the run game and with blitzes. How bout that defense though? People forget how good the defense was last year before all the injuries piled up. Getting Alim back was a hell of a spark.

week 1's can be ****ing weird since nobody really plays in the preseason. I'm giving the Lions a mulligan for that week 1 since it really seems like an anomaly with how the rest of he season has gone.

5-1 since then = A+

ROAR

The last game is just another example of why Dan is an elite coach who is routinely a coach of the year snub. For years we've had coaches feeding us crap about "trust the process" or "we're building something here just be patient" when the average fan could see the team was going nowhere. Not Dan. They're 5-3 coming off a difficult first half schedule. Most teams would be pretty content with that. Hell all of us would have been 4+ years ago. But not Dan. He saw the offense wasn't playing up to its potential and he made a change. It worked. They had one of their more complete games of the season. Bonus points for it being against a Washington team whose fanbase thought their team was somehow better and that "every team deals with injuries quit complaining" after the playoffs last year.