NYLion

4-2 in the New Year all without Grant with the young guys driving it (namely Bey and Diallo who have flourished without Grant). I keep repeating myself but I don't see the point in keeping Grant anymore and in fact, I think his return might stunt growth if anything. Sell High Troy, you have a month to do the right thing.

You are looking way too deeply into this. It's a drop from #1 to #2 in a draft with no true #1 prospect and as I mentioned before, arguably their 3 best players in franchise history were drafted at 2,2 and 3 so the difference is negligible. Yeah, this also drops them 1 spot in every other round that they have a pick but so what, they shouldn't need to be 1 pick higher if they have good scouting. In any event, I'm enjoying watching the wins of an enthusiastic young team playing for an enthusiastic young coach. It's been such a miserable 3 seasons prior to this one so it's nice to see my favorite team enjoy playing football again. I think it bodes well going forward that they're competing against much more talented teams and winning some of these games with an undermanned group. You think it means nothing, I think it means something. We'll just have to agree to disagree then.

Because it's good for the morale of the young players and coaches. Go tell the players in that locker room post game when they were having a good time enjoying the win that it meant nothing. When you have a young team like this, with a young coaching staff that's in the very beginning of a rebuild, winning is important. Also, the Lions drafted arguably the 3 best players in franchise history at 2,2 and 3. Chances are that the Jags could take an offensive tackle anyway leaving the Lions their #1 choice. Winning, especially for the reasons I mentioned above, should never be frowned upon especially in a draft where there's no true #1 prospect.

He would have been here whether he earned it or not because of financial reasons. Interestingly, he took off when Campbell (the meathead who has no brains apparently) took over the playcalling duties. 11 TDs and 2 INTs in that timeframe. I'm still not sold on him as a long term solution but give him some more weapons in the pass game and lets see how he does, they already have the offensive line, running backs and tight end to support him.

And they got Suh and Barry with the 3rd pick. It's absurd to say that winning this game is some kind of franchise crippling move especially in a draft with no surefire #1 pick. Please. I also wouldn't be shocked if Jacksonville went offensive tackle leaving the Lions with their choice of pass rusher. Anyway, I actually enjoyed this season more than I thought I would. The team was battling every week and ended on a high note. Now they have a bunch of high picks and a lot of cap space to work with and I bet the way they ended the season and the overall appeal of playing for a guy like Dan Campbell will draw some free agent attention. It's going to be an interesting offseason in which I think the Lions can potentially build a roster that can make a pretty significant jump forward next season. Not playoffs necessarily but I'd put the expectation at 6-7 wins minimum depending on how the offseason goes.

The Pistons are better without Grant. Ball movement is crisper, defense is tighter, the young guys (Bey and Diallo) specifically aren't stifled anymore. Grant has some good qualities, he can be a game changer when his offense is on, but Weaver needs to strike while the iron is hot and trade him while his value is still high.

I've never really liked Goff so there might be some bias on my part. He's skinny, turnover prone, has small hands that effect his grip and leads to those turnovers and he's pretty much toast when there's any semblance of pressure on him because of his limited mobility. He's not without good qualities as he has a good arm, is deadly accurate with the intermediate throws when he was time to throw and he seems to be a pretty good leader but he's the type of QB that you need to build an elite supporting cast around to win with. Funny enough, the Lions are building the type of team that should cater to his strengths with the strong offensive line, solid running game and promising tight end but I've never been a big fan of glorified game managers. Never really liked the Alex Smiths and Jimmy Garapolos of the world even though those guys have won a lot of games. I know, it's a weird thing for me to say considering that Goff and Garapolo both led their teams to the Super Bowl and Smith won a lot of games but I see those as exceptions, not the norm for QBs of this ilk. In any event, even though I'm not a big Goff fan, even I can admit that it's unfair to properly evaluate him this season. I'd assume that the Lions will add two top 3 level receivers at minimum in the draft and free agency so no more excuses for Goff next season, Ragnow will assumably be healthy and Decker for most of the season so he'll have help. This will be a player right smack dab in the middle of his prime who should have a good supporting cast of players to work with so it's do or die time for him next season I'd think. If he is in the "do" category, the Lions should make a sizeable jump in the standings and if it's "die" then the Lions should be in position to take a premier QB in the draft or at least have the ammo to trade up for one.

You can't just draft a QB just to draft a QB. I'm not a Goff believer either but he's going to get a chance to prove himself next season, whether we like it or not, with presumably enough weapons around him to make a proper assessment so they can punt drafting a QB to next draft with one of the higher picks if they don't like one in the 1st or 2nd this draft. Furthermore, QBs from Round 3 on down are pretty much wasted picks as opposed to other positions where you have a much higher likelihood to find a long term starter in the middle rounds. I'd be fine if they took a flier on one with the Rams pick or the 2nd, one that they REALLY liked. Beyond that? Forget it. Not worth it.

Running back and tight end (although a little added depth there couldn't hurt) are pretty set. I wouldn't invest any high picks on defensive tackle either unless a big faller falls into their laps. Assuming no clear and obvious BPA's, I'm not drafting an offensive lineman, tight end, running back or defensive tackle with any of the first 5 picks. Load up on playmakers. Receivers, linebackers, safeties/corners, pass rushers and perhaps a QB. I guess I wouldn't hate it if they took a guard with one of the 3rds if it was a no brainer, guy fell into our laps situation.

An inconsistent young player who might not even want to re-sign here, a young player who has had a good half season, a struggling young player who will be coming off of a serious injury and two undrafted free agents. Your definition of "set" is a whole lot different than mine. These guys are showing some promise but the Lions still need a lot of secondary help. Wide Receiver and Safety are arguably their two biggest needs with Linebacker being a contender for top need.

Only if the Cowboys remain one game behind headed into the final week. I believe that the Cowboys are the only team of the 11 win teams that owns the tiebreaker although not sure how a 3 or 4 way tie would work. In any event, hopefully the Lions lose another competitive game this week and the Packers have something to play for in the final week so we can root for the Lions to spoil things for Erin without draft pick position concerns.

Yep and Yep. Ideal loss. Competitive and now only need to lose one more to clinch top 2.

Lawrence has been getting destroyed on the regular. I wouldn't be surprised if they took Neal and the two pass rushers were still available at 2 and 3. Dropping a couple of spots isn't the worst thing in the world and it'll be nice to see this young group get a taste of winning.

Loved this game. I've been seeing it all season, a team that is competing their tails off every week and just has the look of a team/culture that is headed in the right direction. I don't know where it goes from here but I firmly believe that Holmes and Campbell are steering this ship in the right direction. As far as the draft spot is concerned, I don't really care tbh. Hutch, Thibs, Hamilton. All these guys are game changers and none really stand out above the other. It's quite possible that Hutch drops to the Lions even if they end up at 2 or 3 so I'm not too concerned, I just want to see this team build confidence headed into the offseason and nothing builds confidence more than wins. Now if the Pistons win today, the world might implode.

Yes actually. Lance was hyped for a few years. Lawrence, Fields and Lance were talking about as part of a generational class for a while. Wilson and Jones were the big jumpers. I wonder if some teams will have hesitation due to 3 of the QBs taken in that draft struggling mightily currently. I doubt it because as somebody above mentioned, this is a QB league and teams almost always overdraft QBs but with this class being weaker than normal, I wonder how many teams take the plunge. I think teams like Atlanta and Pittsburgh are likely to take one but who knows, I guess it depends on how the board shakes out.

What did the Heisman show have to do with the Lions 2021 #1 pick? Did Hutchinson do something to turn you off from taking him? If anything, the more he talks, the more I want to take him. Seeing his mom wearing Hutchinson's Lions jersey in the stands every game would be a nice little bonus as well.

Without Green funny enough and with minimal contributions from any of their rookies for the most part so not sure it's necessarily a good thing for that franchise.

And then Casey had him inbounding the ball on the last possession. Classic Casey

It's a rebuild and this is the first FULL season of the young guys taking the reigns, what did you guys expect? It should also be noted that Olynyk has been injured most of the season and he was supposed to be a key vet on this roster so some of those close losses might have been wins with him. I expected a lot of losses this season but what bothers me more than anything is Bey's immense regression because he's trying to be something he's not which is a go to scorer. Last year Bey knew his role and played it well while now he's trying to act like he's a star and while Hayes is showing some incremental improvement mainly with his long range shooting, the rest of his offensive game is severely lacking. This goes back to coaching. Casey is putting these guys in a position to fail. His stagnant offense continues to destroy them in 4th quarters. I see too much of Grant and Bey barrelling into guys one on one down the stretch and not enough Cade and Hayes facilitating getting that ball to move side to side. Until that happens, the team will always struggle down the stretch and this old coach isn't changing his ways. In any event, this is what a rebuild feels like. We haven't know this feeling as Pistons fans because they've always been a Championship contender or spun their wheels in perpetual mediocrity. Not since post-Isiah and pre-Hill which was only a couple of seasons have we seen what a real rebuild looks like so this is what we get. Short term pain for long term gain. It's much much better than the 30-40 win Pistons teams of yesteryear. Just have to be patient.

I meant more confident in the Pistons future in the sense that they have their star already which goes a long way in basketball. It's like in football when you have your future star in place at QB. With that base, you're off to a great start in your rebuild. I have no idea if Weaver is the right man for the job but winning the lottery in a really good draft sure made things easier going forward.

The good news, Cade keeps getting better and better as I suspected he would. The bad? Well, everything else. Here's the real hard hitting question, who is worse right now, the Lions or the Pistons? Both have actually been competitive for the most part but both fold like a cheap lawn chair in just about every 4th quarter and can't win a game for the life of them. I'm far more confident about the Pistons future but man, it's a grind to watch these two teams in the meantime.

Pickett is definitely not a below average athlete but yeah, I'm not a huge fan. The more I think about it, the more I think they need to punt on the idea of a QB in this draft and try it next year. Just load up on skill position guys/playmakers.

Good Lord, Jared hit the lottery with that one. Kind of nice to get paid an enormous sum of money to provide mediocre QB play and come home to THAT.

So he's like Matt Patricia, only successful.

No doubt, I'm a big fan of Hutch too. It's just TP's take of Hutch being a "no brainer" that takes it into hot take territory. Thibodeaux has elite tools and as I mentioned in a previous post, there's a lot more that goes into evaluation than raw production especially in this case so it's a tough decision between the two which ultimately is a good thing for the Lions.