Mr.TaterSalad

As happy as I've been with Dan Campbell at season's end, is Brian Daboll the Coach of the Year? Seems he should be now.

What a shit call there on the roughing the passer. If there's a sport that needs robotic officiating it ain't baseball, it's NFL football. Extending the game for the Vikings there.

I'd punt it and pin them deep and trust my defense I were the Giants.

What a real bummer we aren't in the playoffs. Two teams we beat this season and could have beaten again today.

The Giants might not end up winning, but they are proving they aren't fugazzi.

Not sure why Kevin O'Connell doesn't kick the field goal here and tie it? Edit, the penalty forced the field goal. Minnesota can't put the Giants away though.

If Stroud doesn't declare that really shakes up the top 5-10 of the draft I think.

Harbaugh has the California ties, but Payton would be a great choice as well. He'd fit right in with a great young QB like Herbert and guys like Eckler and Williams around him.

Welp, if Harbaugh wants to go to the Chargers that job should be open. What a collapse by the Chargers having blown a 27 point lead against the Jaguars. I think Staley is probably out of a job after this.

Michigan has one of the wealthiest donor bases in the country and can't beat out a glorified community college in Columbus for NIL money? If a donor base consisting primarily of people who ask you about whether or not you want fries can muster up $12 million in NIL money certainly a base with Michigan's money can match or do better. Maybe Warde hasn't done enough to coordinate donations, maybe donors aren't willing (or used to as you mentioned) give towards this kind of an NIL slush fund, maybe it's both. I'm not nearly connected enough to know the answer on that.

It seems like Harbaugh's people are putting their side of the story out there now and blaming a lot/all this Harbaugh leaving chaos on Warde Manuel.

I wished you would have drafted Schoonmaker higher and I would have liked this draft better. I think he needed to be a round or two higher. In all seriousness, you have to admit that you'd be pretty disappointed if they actually spent a first round pick on Michael Mayer or any TE given all their needs defensively.

Poor TCU. I have sympathy for them now. This is really something.

LOL 51-7. Is there a mercy rule in CFB?

I don't know that Michigan would be playing much better, but TCU is getting torched. Sad we can't even get a decent game.

I think Anzalone gets replaced in the draft and Eliot get replaced by the emergence of Kirby Joseph and a returning Tracy Walker. I think they should bring back all of Williams, Cominsky, and Buggs. Chark is the only one I am not sure of. He's going to want a multi-year deal and I'm not about to get in a bidding war for a #3 WR when we have Josh Reynolds on this team and the ability to spend a 3rd/4th round pick on getting a replacement. If Chark want to get #2 WR money and be someone else's legit, starting #2, then I probably let him walk at that point. We could get by just fine on a WR room that is St. Brown/Williams/Reynolds/Raymond/Rookie addition IMO.

How do we get out of neutral at this point? With the Vrana situation turning into a disaster and it looking more likely that we'll get nothing out of him this season, who are the guys we expect to help get us in gear at this point? Are we even capable of being better than a .500 team with this roster? I think I got ahead of myself, setting expectations too high, thinking we'd for sure be in the playoff hunt all year.

I miss Stormin' Norman in the Lions forum. Always there to tell us what a great job Martin Mayhew was doing, how good this roster really was, and that this team would be ready to take the next step and compete. He might finally be right this time around, only with Holmes instead of Mayhew and Campbell instead of Schwartz/Caldwell.

I didn't realize Dean was a free agent as well. I was originally looking at Bradberry as my top guy to get, but Dean is just as good and is only 26 compared to Bradberry at 29 I believe. They are pretty equal in terms of what they bring on the field. Give me the younger Dean over Bradberry if he doesn't end up resigning in Tampa.

Do you think we lose Ben Johnson to a head coaching job this offseason?

Pending free agent list PFF Top 25 Free Agents Looking at the list of pending and potential free agents and our needs, not knowing who will be cut in the future, I like guys like James Bradburry/CB and Cam Sutton/CB, as options in the secondary to make an upgrade at Corner. As well as Dalvin Tomlinson/DT as an option up front to help plug holes against the run. Things will change, players will get cut, and some of these guys may get resigned. Signing a pairing of Bradburry/Tomlinson seems like nice upgrade for this defense via free agency, before we even get to the draft.

At the beginning of the year and in the preseason I told myself I didn't so much care about the number of wins this season as I did seeing improvement. As long as I saw improvement, that was what would matter to me more than win totals. Individual player improvement, improvement among positional groups, and improvement by the coaching staff. Early on in the season it looked like there was little player development and growth among this team. The defense was historically bad, a coach got fired over it, and it felt like our defense was regressing and not improving. I know I was on the cusp of wanting Aaron Glenn fired and Dan Campbell on the hot seat for early next year. When the team went 1-6 the wheels could have fallen off and we would completely spiraled and gotten worse from there. It didn't though and Dan Campbell and company kept the train on the tracks. Not only that, we saw a tremendous amount of growth from young players on this team and we got markedly better. St. Brown, Wright, Sewell, Hutch, Rodrigo, Okudah, Joseph all took major steps forwards as players. The defense went from the worst in the league and got progressively better, with a few hiccups like the Panthers game. The coaching staff put this team in a position where opposing teams finally had to take us seriously and play us with the respect that we were going to beat them. I think the beginning of this season left a lot to be desired and made the future of this regime and coaching staff look real bleak. But they all, collectively turned it around, in a way we have almost never seen this organization, under Ford ownership, actually do. There is a lot to build off of for next year and I expect them to get very aggressive in the offseason. Before any cuts, trades, or restructures happen it looks like they will have around $28,000,000 in cap space and they should be out to use a good portion of that. I want a splash free agent signing on defense at position of need. Let's hope Holmes is smart but aggressive this offseason using that cap space on defense and makes some big improvements at positions like DT, OLB, and Corner.

Alright Brad Holmes, go spend some money and put this team over the top! A good offseason and I truly believe we can be kings of the NFC North.

I really had it in my mind that it was like 15 or 20 years ago.

Jamaal Williams is fucking legit! Love this guy. Watch his post game interview, it's gold. Fox 2 tonight.