Detroit Lions: Not as bad as many think

There are very few seasons I can think of in recent memory where the national opinions about the Lions have varied so much from the local opinions. My general feeling is that most local Lions fans, myself included, are quietly optimistic that our offseason moves have set us up for an improvement this season. The national opinion, however, seems to be that the Lions will be one of the worst teams in the league, with record predictions as bad as 3-13, which is on par with teams like the Miami Dolphins. I do not think it is that much of a hot take to say that the people saying those things seem wildly off-base. When looking at our roster for this year and comparing it to last year's roster, it just looks so much better. Now, you could say that Matt Patricia is still the coach and based on last season, he is incapable of winning no matter what roster we put together. Fine, you could say that, but I would have to disagree with that opinion. I personally believe that what matters more in football, especially at the higher levels, is talent on the field. That is why you see examples like Bill Belichick was no good as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, but is now revered as one of the greatest coaches ever. Is he insanely smart about the game of football? Yes. Does he have his own unique scheme that he is able to implement? Yes. At the end of the day, though, the players still have to go out every week and execute. My point is, I do not think the Lions are going to be horrible in spite of their offseason moves simply because Patricia is still the coach. Now, his job will almost certainly be called for should the Lions struggle again, but I do not believe that will be the case.

I will delve into every single position on the Lions' roster, and provide my general thoughts and opinions about each of them.

Quarterback

First up is quite possibly the most controversial position on the team. There is no arguing the Matthew Stafford is the best quarterback we have had in a long time. Last year, however, was the first year where I finally came to the realization that he is never going to win us a Super Bowl. He has been in the league for 11 years now, and he still has yet to learn how to put touch on the ball, and his accuracy is still not great. That just does not fly with me, because it continues to costs us games. How many times has Stafford thrown a ball really hard high or behind a guy on a crucial third down, and we have to punt? Way too many is the answer to that question. I also have slight worries about his general intensity. When a guy like Tom Brady or Philip Rivers throws an interception, they are furious on their way to the bench and then they come back out determined to throw a touchdown on the next drive. I do not see that anger and fire from Stafford, he just trots over to the bench like, "Oh well." I personally love a guy with a ton of competitiveness because I feel like those guys will give that extra effort when the game is on the line. Now, the other issue with the quarterback position is that we have failed to address the backup quarterback position. We drafted Jake Rudock a few years ago, who I did not think did that horribly, but then he was cut last year, so the Lions thought otherwise. The Lions also drafted Brad Kaaya out of Miami, but he was cut that same year, so he did not pan out either. Those are the only two quarterbacks we have invested draft capital in since Bob Quinn got here. I was pulling hard for us to take a guy this past year. I was hoping we would take Haskins when he fell to us at #8, or a guy like Will Grier later in the draft. I just wanted a sign that the Lions were thinking ahead for life without Stafford, alas we did not address it at all and now 33-year-old Josh Johnson is our backup. Awesome. Stafford very well may have the biggest individual impact on how well we do this year, as is usually the case for a team's quarterback. If he gets off to another slow start, our season could be over by Week 6.

Running Back

I love Kerryon Johnson. I firmly believe that if he stays healthy, he will be a real star in this league. He shows incredible vision, cuts, and burst when running the football, and all of those things are exciting especially considering the Lions' bad luck with running backs basically since Barry Sanders retired. I was not particularly thrilled with the C.J. Anderson signing, but I suppose having a big back is not a bad thing. He had some nice stiff arms in the preseason, which was exciting because breaking tackles is how long runs can happen. As long as he can steadily rip off chunks of yardage, he will be a nice addition to our backfield. The other guy is one of my favorite picks from this past draft, Ty Johnson. He is exactly what this backfield has been missing since Jahvid Best's injuries got the best of him, and that is speed. We have not had a home run hitter in so long, and it shows. It really pays to have a guy who can at any point during the game break a long run for a touchdown, and I believe Ty can do exactly that. Overall, I feel good about our running backs, and that is not something I have been able to say about the Lions very often.

Wide Receiver

Kenny Golladay is an emerging star in this league, and a great pick by Bob Quinn that I was questioning at the time. Marvin Jones is the other returning starter, and while I do like him, I am hoping that we trade him similar to how we did with Golden Tate last season. Jones is already 29 years old, and I think there are quite a few teams that would trade for him. The Raiders are one team that immediately comes to mind, with the Antonio Brown saga finally ending with him being released. Danny Amendola was not an exciting signing, but I think it was a necessary one. We needed a dependable slot guy with Golden Tate now gone, and while I like Brandon Powell a lot, Amendola has a lot more experience. There was also a report out of training camp that after failing to score a touchdown in the two-minute drill, Amendola screamed and slammed his helmet down. I love hearing a report like that because Amendola, coming from New England, comes from a culture of winning, and it is important to have that level of competitiveness all the time, even at practice. Our receiver corps is rounded out by Chris Lacy and Travis Fulgham, who both had strong preseasons. I was happy to see that we kept Fulgham, because he is another bigger body with good hands, which I hope implies we may be looking to trade Marvin Jones this season.

Tight End

Let me start by putting this out there: I hated the T.J. Hockenson pick. A tight end does not have enough of an impact on a game to warrant being taken with a pick that high. If you have a pick that high, the guy you take must be an immediate major impact player, and Hockenson just will not be that as a tight end. Additionally, he was advertised as "the most complete tight end prospect we have seen in a while," but showed very little ability to be an effective blocker, which is a major part of being a great tight end. So, essentially, I am not high on him at all. I think he can be a fine player but if he can not figure out how to block at the NFL level, he is going to just be Eric Ebron with better hands. The Hockenson pick made even less sense considering we had already signed Jesse James, who is a fine tight end. I am sure James and Hockenson will both have decent seasons receiving, but if they can not block then neither of them will have a great season in my eyes. The other guy is Logan Thomas, a converted quarterback who I assume we will not see too much of, barring injury. Overall, we have okay players at this position, but we do not have any Top-15, Top-20 in the league guys. Let me also say, I am not rooting against Hockenson in any way, I hope he goes out there and proves me wrong. I am just expressing that I am not wildly optimistic about him.

Offensive Line

Oh man, where to begin with this one. I believe I can talk about all of these players as a whole unit. I try to not take too much out of the preseason, but wow if what I saw is exactly what we are going to see in the regular season, then we are really in trouble. I do not care who you have under center or in your backfield, if you can not protect or open up holes, your offense will be anemic. I do find it concerning that Bob Quinn did not feel the need to draft a guard with the departure of T.J. Lang. I feel like that is a position that warrants some attention to get a good replacement in there. I do not love Rick Wagner, he is probably my least favorite of the four remaining starters from last year, but I do love the other three guys: Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow, and Frank Ragnow. Hopefully this unit can really figure it out in the regular season, or 3-13 could absolutely be in the cards.

Now, let's take a look at the defensive side of the ball, where some of our biggest offseason additions and adjustments were made.

Defensive Line

I feel like the preseason least effectively reflected what to expect from this unit out of all of them. Three of our top 5 at the position never played in the preseason, those being Damon Harrison along with recent acquisitions Trey Flowers and Mike Daniels. Romeo Okwara was the lone presumed starter who played in the preseason, with A'Shawn Robinson also getting some reps. This is an extremely talented group of players. Flowers was arguably the biggest free agent on the market, and Quinn and Patricia managed to bring him in to Detroit. Mike Daniels was a surprise acquisition for me, as the Packers released him early on in training camp and all of a sudden the Lions signed him. I am willing to bet he is excited about a chance for revenge on his former team. If these guys pan out the way that I hope they will, then we will have a formidable defensive line. If they can both stop the run and still get consistent pressure on the quarterback, then they will cause a ton of trouble for opposing offenses. This might be the group I am most excited about on the Lions' roster, and I can not wait to see what they do this season.

Linebacker

The other Lions picks from this past draft I really did not like is Jahlani Tavai. It was such a reach in the second round for a guy that was projected as a fifth- or sixth-round pick. On top of that, the draft coverage completely glossed over the pick because I do not believe they had any tape of his ready to go. Now, unlike Hockenson, Tavai has really shown some good things in the preseason that has made me believe in him a bit. Tavai is a big linebacker, and it showed in the preseason as he time after time shed blocks, some of which were made by offensive linemen, in order to be in position to make the tackle. If he can keep doing that, I think he can be a really good player for us. I love the proposition of moving Jarrad Davis to the outside linebacker spot. He has impressive speed, and from the outside he will have more opportunities to get upfield and make plays, which I think he will excel at. The other guys, Christian Jones and Devon Kennard, are good players that are important parts of this defense that Patricia likes to run. Kennard, for example, is often used as a pass rusher. My one big concern for this unit is the same as it has been for the last few years, can they cover tight ends and running backs? In the past, we have really struggled with that, and Tavai's lack of speed does not make me more optimistic about that. If they can show improvement in that department, then that is a crucial step in the right direction.

Cornerback

Darius Slay is our star in the secondary, but the Lions have struggled for a long time with finding a guy to start on the opposite side. Nevin Lawson had been that guy, but ultimately his lack of size was too much of a detriment, so it was smart of the Lions to move on from him. Unfortunately, I do not know how much closer we are to finding that player. Justin Coleman was a significant signing this offseason, but he is more of a slot corner. Rashaan Melvin seems like the favorite, and he looked okay in the preseason, so I guess that I do not feel too bad about it. I just wish he was a little more proven. Jamal Agnew has yet to show a ton of ability in coverage, so I am not the most optimistic about him as a cornerback. I love him as a punt returner though, do not get me wrong. The two guys I really like on the lower end of the depth chart are Mike Ford and Amani Oruwariye. Ford is a real competitive player, he plays with a lot of intensity, and he had a fantastic showing in the final preseason game that I believe really solidified his spot on the roster. I like him a lot, and hope to see some of him during the season. Oruwariye is very intriguing, and he was another draft pick that I really liked. Ever since Charles Tillman terrorized the Lions I have always been interested in the tall cornerback. Oruwariye is 6'1", and from what I have seen from him both in college and in the preseason, he still sticks with receivers just fine. The preseason also showed that he has areas to improve, but given that he was drafted in the fifth round, I can live with that. In later rounds, you are looking for upside, and Oruwariye offers a ton of it. This is a good group of players, but not a great one yet, I believe some of the guys we have can develop and become great, but they are not quite there yet.

Safety

I loved Glover Quin, he is one of my favorite Detroit Lions in recent memory, but it was clear last year that he had really lost a step, so I was okay with seeing him go. It also opens the door for one of my favorite young players on the team, Tracy Walker. I love what Walker brings to the team, he has long arms, good cover ability and good ball skills. He will only get better with time and I am very excited to watch him continue to improve. Quandre Diggs and Tavon Wilson have been around for a little while now, and they are both good players that help the secondary a lot. This leads me to two other players I am really intrigued by on this team, Miles Killebrew and Will Harris. Killebrew has also been around a few years yet, and it feels like that entire time the Lions have been trying to figure out what to do with him. I think what they did in the preseason, where they lined him up in the box a lot as a linebacker-safety hybrid, was very effective. He made play after play in the preseason from that spot and I hope they continue to use him in that role. Harris was the pick I was the most excited about from April's draft. He is a big-hitting safety with capable ball skills, and I love it. I think he can be an absolute stud in this league. It will just be a matter of if he can put it together. I think the Lions' safeties might be my favorite unit on the team. The sky is truly the limit for these guys, especially the younger guys.

Overall, I really think when you look at the Lions' roster they show a lot of improvement from last year. Ultimately, I think the groups with the most to prove are the offensive line, defensive line, and quarterback. If those units can put it together, I think we can absolutely go 9-7 and make a playoff push. If we finish below .500, I think Patricia will be and should be gone. I personally think if we start out 1-4 or 0-5, then we should just fire him then. He has a ton of talent on the field this year, and if he can not put it together into a .500 or better season with some significant wins, he would be pretty hard to defend.

My prediction: 8-8