the lions had one of the worst defenses in the league last year. they need major upgrades at almost every position, but especially cornerback and linebacker.
some of that will hopefully come from improvements to young players. but not all of it. they need a lot more talent in the back seven to compete.
hopefully they get two starters out of day one and holmes finds a couple diamonds in the rough in the later rounds.
im not counting on levi for anything. i thinknhe gets cut or an injury settlement. they'll need multiple dts. im not counting on okudah to be anything more than serviceable. walker is coming back from missing an entire year to injury. jacobs was ok, but nothing more than that.
they need upgrades almost everywhere on defense.
late round flyers on qbs fail 90% of the time. remember brad kayaa and jake rudock and kellen moore?
if youre taking someone to be a glorified clipboard holder and potential emergency 3rd qb, then ok. but 9 times out of 10, youre getting nothing and would be better off with sudfeld.
yeah yeah yeah brock purdy. brock purdy is a product of kyle shanahan, imo.
johnson must have a lot of faith in himself to come back, or maybe not a lot of faith in himself as a head coach? the lions are one jared goff injury away from having a really bad offense.
strike while the iron is hot. take the money and run.
otoh, he may feel he's not ready to be an nfl head coach? that might show a level of self awareness most individuals dont possess.
"free agent" and "rookie" are doing a lot of work there!
i expect walker to be worsr than before and might bot be back 100% until halfway through the season like okwara was.
if anzalone comes back i'll be disappointed. i think they should look to upgrade.
pronman has his u-23 rankings out. wings well represented but only seider in the borderline elite category.
i like pronman because he's a prolific writer and always puts out content, but there is no way to differentiate between a lot of these guys and no way he's scouted them all thoroughly. i take his rankings and ratings with a big grain of salt and the way he ranks them "poor, nhl average, nhl above averge" seems so random. he has about 100 players with almost the exact same ratings.
lawrence made great progress as the year went on. he's in his second year and has a division title and playoff win under his belt. he has arm strength, mobility, and great size. unlike justin fields, he can get the ball out in under 3 seconds. unless he gets injured he's going to be very good.
as nylion said, this is his first year with a legitimate nfl head coach calling plays for him. he's going to be fine. i think he'll look a lot like joe burrow next year.
the bears have 2 second round picks as their starting cbs next year, so i doubt the spend big money on another starter. and they need almost an entire offensive and defenaive line upgrade.
the bears have $115 million in cap space. so if youre competing with them for a free agent, youre not likely to win.
i expect the lions to sign at least one veteran corner. maybe a veteran linebacker too.
i think okwara is just as likely to get cut than to be good next season. he has a high cap number, is coming off a serious injury, and has younger players nipping at his heels.
i guess you expect things from a michigan football coach that i dont.
he's a football coach. win games, beat ohio state, dont be too much of an ass hole. i think he accomplishes all that. he's very quirky and i think that's a bit endearing. ymmv.
so what if he looks at the nfl? i want a coach who is good enough to be coveted by the nfl or other programs. harbaugh's one of the top coaches in the sport. pay him like one and he'll stay for another ten years. hopefully with much silverware.
every city's downtown smells like pot nowadays. it used to just be denver, but everywhere its legalized the smell of pot wafts in the air.
its annoying as heck.