MichiganCardinal

I think a lot of Johnson's gripes are sour grapes at the trajectory of his career, and they're blamed on the money because that's easier. I understand being upset that you're one of the greatest of all time at your position and never even won a playoff game. If he wanted to be upset with the Ford family, Millen, Mayhew, etc. for that, completely understood... But he's the one who signed a seven-year deal in 2012 and then bailed on it three years in, and he's the one acting like a child while Sheila tries to repair relationships ruined by her parents... I've always thought that if the Lions got good he would be back to be in the camera for the moment, so it doesn't surprise me that he's laying the foundation.

This is just great. I’ve really been losing a lot of sleep over the relationship between the dude who made $112MM in contract salary alone across his career but severs relationships over $2MM he didn’t earn and the corporate ownership team that literally couldn’t gift him the money even if they wanted to. It’s really nice to see that now that the Lions are getting good and going to be in the spotlight the former declares that the relationship is magically getting better. I’m sure that doesn’t have to do with wanting to be in the spotlight for his businesses or anything. /s

But did you learn your lesson?

I think the Lions are largely at the point across the roster that with very little exception (Bijan and Anderson are the only two that come to mind), no draft pick would be guaranteed a starting gig on day one. Which is a good place to be in, but it also means that in the case of LB, they may not take one high if when the 2nd and 3rd round picks come up and a linebacker isn’t the highest rated player on their board. That said, I do think Holmes would be a buyer at the deadline if we had a clear liability that needed to be addressed for a playoff push (like if Anzalone isn’t pulling his weight).

I think I differ with you here. Bijan may not be a huge upgrade over Swift at 100%, but we only saw that player probably twice last season - against the Eagles and Commies. Otherwise, he was out or on a pitch count, which seriously limited his usefulness.

If we can’t get Anderson, my hope is that the Cardinals screw up their trade talks, Richardson falls to #6, and the Titans trade Simmons and 11 to move up for him. We could probably take Bijan at 11, who may be the pick at 6 anyway.

I’m just shocked we are 81 pages in and no one has found a reason to fire Campbell yet. Blowing previous offseason threads out of the water.

That’s what I mean. If they start with 3 each, it’s probably easier to take away games from teams you know won’t draw / won’t be good and then all of a sudden the good teams are left and they’re getting 4-5. The Lions started without a prime time game last year, which by themselves puts up ~3 games for others to take. This year that could be the Colts or Raiders or Falcons or Rams not getting all three.

I wish I could be as bad at my job as Tim Boyle and never have to worry about finding employment. Career earnings over $7MM after this contract.

Even from just a pure numbers standpoint, with 16 MNF, 15 TNF, and 16 SNF, plus Thanksgiving and Christmas, every team would average around 3 prime time games if they were distributed equally.

TNF Opener @ Chiefs MNF v. Vikings Thanksgiving v. Packers SNF @ Saints

It may even be the season opener.

The Chiefs probably prefer to play the Bears internationally too, because they’d prefer to play the Lions at Arrowhead.

It likely means the Lions will “host” an international game in 2024, losing a home game. Probably the worst part of it.

The guys on the radio were very confused when he came out for the final shift with an empty net. Their scoresheet reflected that he got a game misconduct. They said postgame that he originally did get a game and then it was revised to a 10.

These questions about Carter’s character are nice and all, but are there any high school pitchers with questionable long-term arm stability available?

Everything the Lions have done since Holmes and Campbell took over has been with football advantages in mind. Down to having Rod Wood advocate for us to get a road international game this year to stave off hosting an international game in 2024. I’m curious their rationale for this move.

It’s only quiet to the masses who associate the Lions with perpetual ineptitude. To those who have been paying attention, they shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Kasper is looking better than ok in his debut.

Where’s my six runs —> where’s my six hits

Is it an overreaction to think this team may be historically bad? Like near 2003 territory? The only thing that kept people from going quite that far is that the offense couldn’t possibly be worse than 2022. Well……

It’s not like he’s some world beating athlete or freak of nature obvious top choice either. He came in as a good DT in a draft relatively void of high-end defensive talent. Because he’s considered the top pass-rushing DT I think a lot of people are imagining that we are talking about the next Ndamukong Suh or Aaron Donald, but Carter only recorded 6 sacks across 3 seasons of play. If he was the next Suh or Donald, I think I might be a little more torn on taking him. But I don’t think he’s the type of generational prospect that you throw away your blueprint for organizational success for. There are plenty of other options out there that have a similar ceiling and arguably a higher floor. Hell, I would argue that Calijah Kancey is one of those players.

It takes two to tango. Jamaal could have followed through when he said he really wanted to stay in Detroit and re-signed even before free agency opened when he received a fair offer. His agent could have been calling teams on Monday at 12:00 looking for what they thought was reasonable to pay Jamaal, and by 6:00 told him the Lions offer appears highest. I think they’re both to blame. As far as the Lions offer having been disrespectful though, I wonder if they returned to Jamaal after signing Montgomery and said “hey we had to move on when we didn’t hear from you, if you still want to return we can sign you as RB3, but we can only allocate a one-year / $2.5MM deal to that position”, and he felt disrespected by that subsequent offer… which would be much more reasonable than having been disrespected by a deal higher than what he ultimately signed.

Even if he was hurt, the way he went about it made it a sit out. He didn’t travel with the team and announced he wouldn’t be playing on Twitter. You have to pretend to care if you want to be given the benefit of the doubt in this league.

A name I’ve seen dropping in recent mocks, partially due to a hamstring injury, has been Myles Murphy. If the Lions do go Bijan at #6, Murphy may be BPA on defense at #18. His ceiling is probably as high as Will Anderson’s, though his floor is a fair bit lower. One of the scouting reports I read said that he would do well to get drafted by a motivating coach who could get the most out of him. Dan Campbell fits that bill, and Holmes has shown he’s not afraid to take players with injury risk.