Motown Bombers

I have moved Levi into draft bust but I'm still going to give him every opportunity to make the roster in training camp. Paschal was injured for much of the season and showed some ability when healthy. I think he still remains an important piece of what they are doing.

I feel like Richard was linked before to Campbell and the Lions. I feel like he was a candidate for defensive coordinator or secondary coach. Those Seahawks defenses he coached were pretty good with a pretty dominant secondary. I'll be honest. Aaron Glenn is more easily replaced than Ben Johnson. I feel confident the Lions could replace Johnson but the chemistry between your QB and playcaller is probably the most important relationship in football. I feel like if someone offered a 3rd round pick for Glenn I wouldn't hesitate to take it. I would for Ben Johnson.

Sheila doesn't get enough credit. I was thinking about the hiring of Spielman. He was an announcer. He wasn't their A team but I imagine his salary was 7 figures. She was able to lure him away from a high paying job to work in the front office. The GM search was done right. Interviewed 15-20 candidates including former GMs and up and comers. No one even knew who Brad Holmes was and the marriage between Holmes and Campbell has been perfect. She also gave them a 6 year contract. She gave them time to do it right instead of a quick fix. The most underrated move is hiring John Dorsey. This is the guy who was the architect of the Chiefs who drafted Mahomes, Kelce and Hill. He goes to Cleveland and takes an 1-31 team to 11 wins and playoff win. His issue was the relationship between coaches and salary cap. Two things he doesn't have to deal with with the Lions. He's one of the best talent evaluators in the league and has to be making GM level money. Finally paying up for Ben Johnson who is one of the up and coming offensive coaches in the league. She's supporting the team without being meddling and completely changed the culture to where players and coaches want to be a part of this team. Dare I say she's moved ahead of Illitch and Gores as the best owner in Detroit?

My problem with these mocks is that they are lazy and using their preconceived notions that Goff was always just a bridge. All these mocks have the Lions taking a QB but not Seattle. In what universe is Geno Smith a more sure future QB than Goff? And Seattle has a top 5 pick and would likely not have to trade to get one of these QBs. Geno Smith is also a free agent. There's no guarantee he's even in Seattle next year.

Holmes has a history on doubling up on positions. He drafted Levi and McNeil back to back, Drafted Hutchinson and Paschal in the 1st and 2nd rounds. I would not be surprised in the least if the Lions walk away with two cornerbacks.

This is Connor Cook 2.0 and most everybody thought that was ridiculous at the time when Stafford was the same age coming off the same type of season as Goff after having been average for multiple seasons. Goff just needs to endear himself to the fanbase and win playoff games and be cast with other Lions immortals such as Erik Kramer. Another thing that strikes me is Holmes saying you can get much worse at QB. I keep thinking about the GM who is in the Lions front office who drafted Mahomes. He also drafted Baker Mayfield over Josh Allen. QB is one of the hardest positions to get right. You have a good one in Goff. Don't get cute and arrogant in your ability. This team is on the cusp of the division title and just needs a couple players to put it over the top.

Internally I like Kelvin Shepard. Externally I like Kris Richard. Former defensive coordinator for the Seahawks during the legion of boom era, also a former and current secondary coach. He was hired by Sean Payton to replace Aaron Glenn after Glenn left for Detroit. He doesn't have a direct Campbell link but seems like he could be a good fit especially if the Lions are bringing in some young cornerbacks.

Yeah but backup QB is one of the team's biggest needs even though Sudfeld didn't take a single snap in either of those games.

I mean he's talking about Kapernick participating in a Super Bowl.

Kapernick was also drafted in 2011, 6 years after Smith was drafted when it appeared Smith was a complete bust. It was the first year Harbaugh was there. Alex Smith was not Harbaugh's guy. Holmes traded for Goff and scouted him in LA. He's Holmes guy.

Fun fact. Jared Goff just beat the Packers. Twice. And he lost a Super Bowl as well.

I mean, Kapernick simply wasn't as good as Smith even in the 8-8 season that Harbaugh was coach. I think I would rather be in the playoffs every year than lose a Super Bowl and start losing 10 or more games almost every year. The point with drafting Richardson or any QB in the 1st or 2nd round is two fold. It means you don't think Goff is the future and the QB you draft is going to be better than Goff. You don't just have two QBs on the field at the same time so having one on the bench does your team no good unless you are done with Goff and going to hand it over to the new QB.

Also, Harbaugh didn't exactly bench Smith. Smith got injured with a concussion and missed time. Harbaugh chose to stick with Kapernick when Smith was cleared to play. In the long run, Smith ended up being better than Kapernick so I'm not sure that's the example we want to go by.

You failed to take it out further. After they went to the Super Bowl, the 49ers didn't have a winning season for 5 years. Harbaugh was fired. Trent Baalke was fired. Kapernick only played a full season once and was average at best. Alex Smith made the playoffs 4 out of 5 seasons in Kansas City.

Scout what? The way he holds a clipboard?

If Holmes really likes a LT in the first round, he should draft him. Let him sit on the bench. The Lions have no backup for Decker so it really is a need.

The problem is, you don't know if Love is any good because he hasn't played. He would only play unless Rodgers is injured for an extended period of time or you bench Rodgers. If Rodgers had injury issues or was benched for being ineffective, then Rodgers wouldn't have trade value. The Packers have been Super Bowl contenders two of the three seasons Love has been in the league. The Packers have come up short in the playoffs while their 1st round pick has been on the bench.

Here's the thing with the Packers, they tried to get cute with it again. They traded up for Love 3 years ago. He has 83 pass attempts in 3 seasons and has an 0-1 record so he didn't even win the one game Rodgers missed. He's going into year four and Rodgers very likely will come back. Green Bay now has to decide whether to pick up a 5th year option on a QB who has started one game in three years. Wouldn't Tee Higgins look better for Green Bay? Whose going to trade for Love? Does he have trade value? I can't imagine a team would trade a 1st round pick for a QB who hasn't played in three years.

So far Holmes has drafted McNeil, Joseph and Melifonwu in the 3rd round. Two of those look to be solid starters. Your more likely to find players like a starting caliber guard like Jonah Jackson than a QB better than Goff. Even if the guard is a backup, he's more likely to get playing time than a backup QB. I would be willing to bet more QBs bust in the 3rd round than other positions.

Lots of people like to site the Chiefs so lets look at them. First off, Goff is simply better than Smith. Kansas City traded for Smith when he was 29. Goff is 28. After one season, they signed him to a 4 year extension. He played four seasons in Kansas City before they drafted Mahomes. He wasn't brought over to be a bridge. They drafted Mahomes when Smith was 33. I would consider signing Goff to a 5 year total contract right now reworking the final two years of his contract to create more cap space. That would take him to age 33. Around age 32 you evaluate if he is still the future QB and either sign him to another contract or draft your future QB. You can also consider 7 years with the final two years being non guaranteed. If Goff goes down for 6 weeks, you really think a rookie, especially a project one like Richardson, is going to just step in and keep you afloat? If your goal is to keep the team competitive for the playoffs, you sign a veteran. I don't think it's asinine to draft a QB 6th overall when you have a 28 year old QB is top 10. It's same old Lions to create a QB controversy and draft a backup in the 1st round. They draft a QB in the 1st round and that is an undeniable signal they don't think Goff is the guy and you create a situation like Goff had with the Rams. No team drafts QBs that high when they have a good young QB. This sudden backup QB hysteria is odd given Goff's durability and the fact that other teams like KC don't just go out and draft backups. My question is, how does this development work? What happens in two years if Goff is still playing well and the Lions are having playoff success? You pull the plug on Goff and hope the rookie is ready? It worked with Mahomes but man alive you better not go through life thinking you can just draft the next Mahomes.

So you draft a QB in the 1st round and Goff continues to play well, then what? Do you let him walk? You draft a QB, especially in the 1st round, if you don't think your current QB is the future QB.

I don't like these mid round development QBs because they rarely pan out and you have GM that is finding starter quality talent in the mid rounds. I would take St Brown, McNeil or Jospeh over Willis or Ridder. Like Mike Ermentrout once said, no half measures. Either you think Goff is the guy and you ride with him or you draft his replacement in the 1st round.

When Stafford was 28, he was worse than Goff and not many people were saying the Lions needed to draft a new QB. Well there were probably some who felt the Lions should have traded up that year to draft Goff.

But they have a top QB now...

Here's another narrative buster regarding Goff: "Goff led the NFL with 1,635 passing yards when blitzed this season. His 13 touchdowns were second behind only Patrick Mahomes (16). Goff had a 106.8 passer rating when teams attempted to blitz him." https://www.detroitlions.com/news/2022-position-breakdown-quarterbacks-goff-sudfeld