RedRamage

Yeah well... I did need another suit. I suppose I could have done one of the UofM or MSU, but neither of them are red. And as bad as the Pistons are right now (I really don't follow them much, but even I know how bad they are) they've at least had championships within my life time.

Okay, well then yeah... that's an official partnership and yeah that's not a great sign if they're desperate enough for money that they'll partner with a timeshare. On a completely side note: has anyone ever gone to one of these timeshare sales pitch thingies? I sometimes thought about taking one of these vacation deals, then just trying to find someone local and paying them to sit through the presentation so I didn't have too.

Where was this being offered? I'm wondering if it's an official UFL or did they just buy the tickets for the game themselves?

Putting on my Motown Bombers hat a moment: I don't think there are too many QBs who don't struggle when protection breaks down or players missing blocking assignments. The question isn't if he struggled, but how much did he struggle and was it appreciably more than other QBs. Now, obviously a more mobile QB will struggle less (all other things being equal) as a mobile QB has one more tool to use in those situations vs. a less mobile QB. (Or perhaps it's better to say a more mobile QB has a better tool than a less mobile QB... splitting hairs here.) But all other things aren't equal, ever. Would I take Gared Joff who's identical in all areas to Jared Goff except he can run like Justin Fields? Hell yes! But Gared Joff doesn't exist.

Obviously we're still early in the tenue of Holmes, but what this does NOT feel like is a Dombrowski built team. I'm not trying to hate on Dombrowski because he pulled the Tigers out of the depths of the MLB and put the team in a position to win World Series for a while, but he also heavily mortgaged the future to do it. Holmes seems to be trying to build a consistently good roster, not just a "run for the SB and then suck for 10 years" sort of situation, but a sustained success. Time will tell if it works, but the results so far are very promising.

If you're grading on a curve, yeah. But this is kinda like the PFF method of grading. Each pick can only get an A+ grade. ARSB should be like an A+++++++++ grade. Top 10 player at his position in round 4? Yeah, that's big time score! But if you can only be A+ per pick, then you average all the picks, you come out with an A- because of Levi. Having said that, this isn't probably the best way to grade a draft.

Between the draft and just life being busy this weekend, I completely forgot to tune into the Panthers... and it seems that my lack of watching them proved to be bad luck for Bates. 2 of 3 FG attempts were missed. A 58 yarder and 62 yarder were both missed, though he did make a Badgley-range 30 yarder. This was his first time kicking outside in the UFL, and there was a 13 mph wind, so that may have played a part. Next week is back inside at Ford Field.

I know it's been said a lot, but this draft is yet more proof that Holmes drafts BPA. He doesn't care (very much) about position. He just really, really doesn't. He drafted a CB... right after drafting a CB. He traded up to get a RB (among other things, but was "interviewed" as a RB) after drafting a RB in the first round last year. To completely mix some sports metaphors, Holmes is taking a home run swing on each an every pick. He's not interested in bunting to move the runs over so that maybe they'll score on the next at bat. He wants a home run. He'll use FA to fill in what holes there are in the roster. So far that's worked out in the Lions favor. We'll see if it continues to work out over the next 3-5 years, but it's hard to argue with his methods right now.

Can he play 1st? We need some serious help there right now.

I'd be really interested to see him play both O and D... but I kinda doubt it'll happen.

I apologize 'cause I'm sure this has been posted before. But holy ****... I seriously, seriously hope this guy works out because holy cow do I want to root for him. My goodness.

Totally agree. Now, that's not to say he's right. That's not to say that this guy will end up being a great player. Holmes can certainly be wrong. But this is definitely his style and his thinking.

I think you're all looking at it wrong. Brad (mostly) don't care about position. The draft is about loading up on promising talent not matter where they play. FA is for filling holes. Draft picks, to him, are about trying to hit homeruns every time he gets to the plate. He's not going to lay down a bunt to move the runners over. Brad is not going to settle for lesser player who might slot in somewhere better if he genuinely thinks the other guy is a better player.

Thank you for posting this. I appreciate it!

I have to hand it to him on the suit color choice... it's flashing but it's a color that isn't used by any NFL team, so it's not going to clash or look like he's wearing an opponents colors for which ever team ended up picking him.

Dang it... you beat me by an hour.

Okay, let me simplify the question. Above I posted the starting offensive roster of the Lions in 2014 and 2023 sans QB along with the HC and OC. Taking the QB out of the question, which of those rosters/coaching combos would you pick? In this situation you can't pick pieces and parts... just all of the 2014 people listed above or all of the 2023 people listed above. To make explicitly clear: If you pick 2023 that does NOT mean Goff isn't good and only got far because of the supporting cast. If you pick 2014 it does NOT mean that Stafford is a bum who got carried. This is not a commentary on the QB right now. I'm just asking... in a QB vacuum (ie, not QB around) which of those two groups would you pick?

Sorry, but even in 2014 with Calvin and Golden I'm still taking the 2023 offense over that. Still is we say 2014 was the best teams that Stafford played on as a Lion, it also is the team that did the best with Stafford. 11 and 5, 2nd in the North, just one game behind the Packers. And had a legit shot of winning the playoff game against the Cowboys until the refs picked up the flag. Which kinda sort answers my question: Could Stafford have done better when a better team around him? Well, one of the best the Lions managed to put together with him at the helm nearly won a playoff game... so probably yeah. Does this means Stafford > Goff? Of course not. That's not the question I'm trying to answer here. It's an interesting "what if" question, but that's all it is. Goff's our QB and I'm very happy with that. He's got more playoff wins than any Lions QB has in more than half a century so what's not to like love about that? If the Rams offered to trade Stafford for Goff straight up right now, I wouldn't do it. So I'm not arguing that Stafford is the better QB or Goff is just a system QB or that Goff's merely benefiting from a good team around him.

WOW.

The question really boils down to this: Do you think that the talent that Goff has around him right now (from coaching to front office to on the teammates) isn't better than the talent that Stafford every had around him for any one season? I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to find a season where this is true. Stafford has, at times, had great defenses. He has, at times, had good, great, and even HOF caliber team mates on offense, but has he ever had a season where much of this was true at the same time? And even if can find a season where the talent level is great, can we really consider any of the coaching staffs to be great, or even good? I'd say no. Does this mean Stafford > Goff? Absolutely not. It means that I wish I could see what Stafford would do if we could magically go back in time to July 2023 and swap Stafford for Goff 1-for-1 so that I could see what Stafford would do. We know what Goff did, and it was pretty damn special. Would Stafford have done the same thing (or better)? Then that'll answer the question of if it was Stafford or just a bad team around him. Would Stafford have done worse? Then that'll answer the question of it it was Stafford or just a bad team around him. This isn't supposed to be a Stafford vs. Goff debate. This is suppose to be a fantasy question to ultimately answer the nagging question: Was it Stafford or the Lions that make the 2010s just one more decades of despair for Lions' fans.

Oh... please, please do not bring up BMW.

You're being disingenuous when you say that. Decker overlaps Stafford for 5 seasons (16-20) Glasgow overlaps Stafford for 4 seasons (16-19) Ragnow overlaps Stafford for 3 seasons (18-20) Jonah Jackson overlaps Stafford for 1 season (20) Let's give a point for each OL player from 2023 who played in each season with Stafford: 09: 0 - 10: 0 - 11: 0 - 12: 0 - 13: 0 - 14: 0 - 15: 0 - 16: 2 - 17: 2 - 18: 3 - 19: 3 - 20: 3 Out of a possible 60 points, we get 13. Saying "4th/5ths" is technically true because 4 of the 5 starters from 2023 did play at least one season with Stafford on the Lions. But it implies that Stafford had largely the same OL that Goff did through his career in Detroit, which is not even close to true.

I don't think anyone has ever made the claim that Stafford had nothing but trash as teammates. That said, on the whole, Goff has better talent surrounding him. The OL was never as good for Stafford as it is for Goff and that plays a MAJOR role in how good an offense can be.

AV only goes back to 1960, unfortunately, which means Layne does show up on the list because by 1960 he was in Pittsburgh.