Detroit Lions: 2025

[Mr.TaterSalad]

23 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

No we don’t. The Lions need to roll cap space from this year to next year. They helped themselves a little in the short term since they lowered Hutchinson’s cap number the next couple years, but they got at least four more extensions to give out next year plus free agency. 

I don't want to be in cap hell like some of these franchises are. But come on, it's a pretty hard sell to your fanbase overall, and esspecially your season ticket holders whom you just jacked up prices on, to be like:

"Yeah well, we couldn't make a move at the trade deadline and make an upgrade at a given position because we need to roll over $21 million in cap space for next year."

Trying to sell the fans and paying customers on the fact that you believe cap flexibility over the long term is more important than making a push to upgrade your talent when possible and win a Super Bowl this year is a hard sell. Every fan who watched that Minnesota game knows our offensive line is depleted with Christian Mahogany out and Decker banged up. They know that it didn't look that great before those injuries happened. I think most fans want an upgrade somewhere on this team, but in particular, on the offensive line after watching the game on Sunday and the resulting injuries and poor play by the offensive line. If Holmes does nothing and just sells the fan base cap flexibility, you're going to (rightly) have a lot of frustrated fans and paying customers. 

Trusting the process is one thing, I think most fans do trust Brad's process on the whole, myself included. But when all your competition around you is actively making some kind of move to get better and you're not, that's a tough one to watch and then be sold on.

Edited Tuesday at 08:23 PM by Mr.TaterSalad

[Motown Bombers]

The Lions should have let McNeil and Hutchinson walk so they could trade for Jalen Phillips so they could say they did something. 

[Hongbit]

9 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

The Lions should have let McNeil and Hutchinson walk so they could trade for Jalen Phillips so they could say they did something. 

It wouldn’t be to say they did something.  They legitimately need help at OL and DL.  

Edited Tuesday at 08:41 PM by Hongbit

[Motown Bombers]

They don’t need help on the defensive line and you can’t force a trade that isn’t there. This is like Chase Young again. 

[Hongbit]

I respectfully disagree they don’t need help on DL.  They need another Edge which I still refer to as part of the DL.     I have no knowledge of what is out there or what the asking price is.  

[Motown Bombers]

Maybe Tennessee and Cleveland don’t want to trade OL and have their rookie QBs play behind weak lines. 

[Motown Bombers]

Just now, Hongbit said:

I respectfully disagree they don’t need help on DL.  They need another Edge which I still refer to as part of the DL.     I have no knowledge of what is out there or what the asking price is.  

Muhammad has played well and Davenport will be back. The DL has been good. 

[Hongbit]

Maybe.  The public doesn’t really know what was offered and who was really available.    

Technically,  every player in the league is available if someone wants to grossly overpay and make a ridiculously one sided deals  

[Mr.TaterSalad]

Counting on Davenport at this point makes no sense. He has shown for almost three full seasons now zero ability to stay healthy. Davenport means little to me at this point until he can prove he can stay on the field for more than a game or two.

[Motown Bombers]

1 minute ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Counting on Davenport at this point makes no sense. He has shown for almost three full seasons now zero ability to stay healthy. Davenport means little to me at this point until he can prove he can stay on the field for more than a game or two.

They have Hutchinson, Muhammad, McNeil, Williams, Reader, Lopez. They are set at DL. 

[Hongbit]

7 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Muhammad has played well and Davenport will be back. The DL has been good. 

Not deep enough at Edge.  Muhammad has been nice overall but he’s still a young player and we will see if he can maintain consistency all year.  It’s a long season and teams scout you differently when you have tape and play well.  I don’t see Davenport as reliable even if he’s back and “healthy”.   

Edited Tuesday at 08:57 PM by Hongbit

[Motown Bombers]

Muhammad is 30 years old and has been in the league 9 years. If you meant Hassanein, I completely forgot about him. There’s another one. 

[MichiganCardinal]

At some point there has to be diminishing returns in making any addition. I understand on a fan level the inclination to want us to go trade for upgrades as we see the Eagles and Bears and Cowboys doing just that.

But with a 53-man roster, that means you have to cut somewhere. This team is already loaded. Talent wise they are definitely top five in the league. Making a move for the sake of making a move is emotional, not savvy.

And now that it's past 4pm, cue the move getting announced that makes me take back all of this in the name of unfiltered fandom.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Motown Bombers]

3 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

At some point there has to be diminishing returns in making any addition. I understand on a fan level the inclination to want us to go trade for upgrades as we see the Eagles and Bears and Cowboys doing just that.

But with a 53-man roster, that means you have to cut somewhere. This team is already loaded. Talent wise they are definitely top five in the league. Making a move for the sake of making a move is emotional, not savvy.

And now that it's past 4pm, cue the move getting announced that makes me take back all of this in the name of unfiltered fandom.

It needs to be stated the Eagles let their two best DL walk so they started the season short handed. 

[Hongbit]

 

8 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

Muhammad is 30 years old and has been in the league 9 years. If you meant Hassanein, I completely forgot about him. There’s another one. 

I was wrong to call him young but he hasn’t played a full time role like this in over 5 years.   

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 minute ago, MichiganCardinal said:

At some point there has to be diminishing returns in making any addition. I understand on a fan level the inclination to want us to go trade for upgrades as we see the Eagles and Bears and Cowboys doing just that.

But with a 53-man roster, that means you have to cut somewhere. This team is already loaded. Talent wise they are definitely top five in the league. Making a move for the sake of making a move is emotional, not savvy.

And now that it's past 4pm, cue the move getting announced that makes me take back all of this in the name of unfiltered fandom.

They aren't loaded at one of the positions that matters the most though and that is the offensive line. They have a banged up LT who is game to game as to whether he even plays. They lost their starting LG for an indefinite amount of time. We saw how piss poor the OLine played just this past weekend and that was before Mahogany went down. I don't think it would have set this franchise back that terribly financially if they had made a move to bring in another starter on the line. I do in-fact believe it would have provided them a security blanket and potentially made them better once that player learned all the blocking schemes and started to gel with their linemates. Given that Kevin Zeitler already played here, with most of these guys, he was probably the best bet.

[Motown Bombers]

The Lions had to trade for Hendrickson. Now it’s going to be Zeitler who wasn’t traded and maybe the Titans didn’t want their rookie QBs playing behind a bad line. 

[MichiganCardinal]

44 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

They aren't loaded at one of the positions that matters the most though and that is the offensive line. They have a banged up LT who is game to game as to whether he even plays. They lost their starting LG for an indefinite amount of time. We saw how piss poor the OLine played just this past weekend and that was before Mahogany went down. I don't think it would have set this franchise back that terribly financially if they had made a move to bring in another starter on the line. I do in-fact believe it would have provided them a security blanket and potentially made them better once that player learned all the blocking schemes and started to gel with their linemates. Given that Kevin Zeitler already played here, with most of these guys, he was probably the best bet.

But they're also not inept at the position. They're banged up right now, but notwithstanding Mahogany, everyone is in line to be returning as soon as this week. And Awosika is not a bad replacement for Mahagony, he has starting experience in the NFC Championship Game.

Zeitler was not a plug-and-play option. He's only ever played RG. So now you're moving your rookie RG, who has shown a lot of development at the position, to LG or C, which they've said they don't want to do. And that's before even considering giving up assets and taking a cap hit for a player you elected to move on from just a few months ago.

Decker is a problem, but he was not realistically going to be replaced at the trade deadline. They've chosen their path with him, and it does not involve dumping off the side of the road in the lead-up to week ten.

The team is fine as is. The team is a Super Bowl contender as is. I have serious doubts that anything they could have realistically done today would have "put them over the edge" without mortgaging the future like the Colts did today. Give me a 1st round LT next year who stays for a decade over a rental that gives us a marginally better shot in the next 2-3 months.

[ewsieg]

We are banged up, but there isn't another team that isn't dealing with some injuries.  Just a few weeks ago we were playing with the 'Legion of whom', while a few guys are questionable for this upcoming week, as of right now, we might have our entire starting defensive backfield in place for Washington.  

I would have preferred some additional depth at DE as I have no trust in Paschal or Davenport staying on the field (heck, just get on the field at this point).  Obviously the Lions still like something about them though.

[MichiganCardinal]

 

 

[Jason_R]

Tater needs a post-trade deadline call from Steve Yzerman. 😊

It was a rough day for the OL, and has been a rough season with Ragnow surprising them with a late retirement and Decker apparently having lingering issues from his shoulder surgery. But before Sunday, nobody was seriously talking about trading for OL help. And the thing that will help them most is if MCDC steps in to provide a bit more direction to Morton. 

Defensively they will get a lot of players back, including an All Pro safety and their starting CB and DE. 

[NYLion]

On 11/3/2025 at 4:01 PM, Hongbit said:

I was guilty of thinking that Ben Johnson was good but not as special as he was made out to be.  A product of being around high end talent and Dan Campbell.  

I was wrong.

Ben is an elite play caller and we miss him.    

 

Is this based on what the Bears are doing? Keep in mind that they've played the Cowboys, Commanders, Ravens with all their injuries and no Lamar, Raiders, Bengals and Saints so....yeah, consider me unimpressed.

Also, he had Ragnow and Zeitler with the Lions which makes a massive difference because the offensive line is everything in this offense.

Ben is a good coach but I don't think he's the biggest reason why the offense has been more inconsistent and a big asterisk needs to be put next to the Bears good offensive season.

[Motown Bombers]

 

[NYLion]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

Tater needs a post-trade deadline call from Steve Yzerman. 😊

It was a rough day for the OL, and has been a rough season with Ragnow surprising them with a late retirement and Decker apparently having lingering issues from his shoulder surgery. But before Sunday, nobody was seriously talking about trading for OL help. And the thing that will help them most is if MCDC steps in to provide a bit more direction to Morton. 

Defensively they will get a lot of players back, including an All Pro safety and their starting CB and DE. 

I don't think that's true, the O-line concerns have been prevalent all season. Green Bay, Kansas City, Tampa Bay and Minnesota games they've been owned with three of these teams being legit contenders, the type of teams that they have to go through to win in the playoffs. It's been a problem all season and even moreso now with the injuries piling up.

With that said, it's very hard to acquire quality offensive linemen in season so the Lions were always going to ride or die with this group. Frankly, I'm very concerned about the offensive line and it's a major roadblock to SB contention. 

Edited Tuesday at 11:49 PM by NYLion