2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[Stanley70]

Is he better than Kayode Awosika?

[Motown Bombers]

He was better than Mahogany last year but he only played 200 snaps. 

[Jason_R]

And Borom was as good as Decker was last year. It would not be ideal if he ends up the starter, but with an upgrade at center and the depth they have added, the OL will be much improved even if Borom starts. Which he won’t, because they will draft their new tackle for the next ten years in the first round, and the tackle depth is deep enough that they might be able to move back from 17 to do it. 

[Motown Bombers]

With the all the consternation about free agents, I like what they have done with the line. They got a starting center without breaking their future cap, they got a solid back up center, a solid OT3, and now a good guard who is starting caliber who can legitimately push Mahogany for starting LG. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

My problem with Borom isn't that he necessarily stinks or anything. He may well not. As a swing tackle, I think he could be a very solid signing. As a starter, I'm not as certain about that. In his 5 year career he has never once been a regular starter. The most games he has ever started was 11 last year with Miami and prior to that was 9 with Chicago. He's been a backup his entire career that has come in when needed due to injuries. Some of him being a backup may be due to his own injuries as he has been on IR twice during his career. He's not been top of the depth chart.

Maybe they found a diamond in the rough and in his 6th year in the league he will finally become a full time starter. Maybe Chicago and Miami were just such poorly run and coached teams in the past that they didn't know what they had in Borom and now we do. If we draft a tackle early on in the draft, first round preferably, I think Borom could be a very nice reserve addition. If we are expecting Borom to go out there and be a full time, 17 game starter, he's never shown he can do that. That makes me nervous and it is the vibe I got from Brad's quote. We shall see.

[Motown Bombers]

Borom was pretty good in the 11 games he started last year. Better than Decker. I have no earthly idea why you think Holmes should say he needs a starting LT before the draft. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

Borom was pretty good in the 11 games he started last year. Better than Decker. I have no earthly idea why you think Holmes should say he needs a starting LT before the draft. 

So does he need to allude to Borom being the starter then? If so, are you suggesting that other NFL teams believe that he will be the starter and that him signing and Brad saying what he's said is enough to dissuade other NFL front offices from thinking the Lions will draft a tackle in the first?

[Jason_R]

Brad Holmes needs to take out an ad in the Detroit Free Press, right next to a Carlos Monarrez article, saying, “Larry Borom is our starting left tackle. We will not be drafting a tackle at pick 17. Also, we will soon publish our full draft board alongside a compilation of the best work from Rob Parker.” 

[buddha]

if the lions published 1/10th of their draft board, it would dwarf the size of the best work of carlos monarrez and rob parker combined.

[romad1]

11 hours ago, buddha said:

if the lions published 1/10th of their draft board, it would dwarf the size of the best work of carlos monarrez and rob parker combined.

Lazy sportswriters or dumb sportswriters?  Which are worse? 

[Jason_R]

They appeal to a certain type of fan.

Brad has always done a good job of adjusting the roster going into the draft to minimize any glaring needs. He has done that this time also. He isn’t forced to take a tackle at 17. And no, he doesn’t owe it to fans or to interviewers to give a full or final account of his draft or roster plans. He is even entitled to lie or use smokescreens if it suits him. He can, will, and should do and say anything he thinks will improve his competitive situation. 

I still think they will take an OT in the first round, and I hope they will have the opportunity to trade back in the first round to do so. 

[MichiganCardinal]

Monarrez is neither dumb nor lazy. He’s just scum, and the worst of what sports writing has become. His content generates clicks, clicks generate revenue, he keeps his job and probably gets a nice yearly raise.

Given a truth serum he would admit that he doesn’t even believe half the nonsense he spews.

But “”it’s provocative. It gets the people going.” -Chazz Michael Michaels” - Kanye West

[buddha]

every town has a writer like that.  it used to be drew sharpe forever.  then rahb pawker.  now monarrez.

[Motown Bombers]

Rob Parker was the first person to ever block me on Twitter. 

[Shinzaki]

Wayne Fontes once discussed his draft day priorities...as a result, all of those guys were off the board when we picked.  Brad doesn't draft for need sp much ad he drafts for talent.

I think he takes McNeil-Warren, the big safety out of Toledo

[1984Echoes]

I think Mauigoa, Freeling and Faulk are his 1st round wants/ top of their "Board" based on both:

High-end talent...

And "Lions Personality" or "type-of-player".

The 2nd part is as important as the 1st part to both Holmes and DC.

[Motown Bombers]

There doesn’t appear to be direct evidence linking Arnold, but it doesn’t look good for Arnold. 

 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

 

[Jason_R]

Knucklehead

[buddha]

48 minutes ago, Jason_R said:

Knucklehead

****ing idiot is more like it.

[KnoxP]

11 hours ago, Jason_R said:

Knucklehead

We’ll see how this plays out. What I think about is the storyline that was put out when he was drafted about his great relationship with some older man-maybe a former teacher? I really think money and personally perceived importance is so hard for some of these young men to navigate. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

3 minutes ago, KnoxP said:

We’ll see how this plays out. What I think about is the storyline that was put out when he was drafted about his great relationship with some older man-maybe a former teacher? I really think money and personally perceived importance is so hard for some of these young men to navigate. 

Some of these young men simply come from bad, broken environments that were high crime, high poverty areas with poor education systems. Some of them have had as many or more bad influences in their lives as they have had positive ones. You combine all of that with sudden stardom, fame, and a lot of money and it is a bad combination. I don't know if this is the case for Arnold or not, but it is for too many young men.

[Motown Bombers]

Arnold is from Tallahassee and went to catholic school. 

[RedRamage]

I dunno if we'll ever know the extent of involvement TA had in these events. I can totally see a situation where these people "went rogue" and TA knew nothing about it but they were using his name with some of the "little people" in the plot to lend legitimacy to the effort. 

I can also see a situation where TA planned, or helped plan, the events but intentionally kept some distance so he could have plausible deniability. This honestly doesn't seem that likely to me just because that seems to involve a certain high level of thoughtfulness and planning, but then communicating by a easily tracible method of texting from their main phones, dropping TA's name repeated in the conversation, and the apparent amateur effort of the events feels very unthoughtful and unplanned. 

If I was forced to guess? I'd say TA probably was hanging out with some of these people and they were lamenting about the stolen items. As young men are prone to do they probably started bs-ing about what they'd do if they caught the people they figured did the robbery. Maybe even made some off the cuff plans on how to carry it out. I suspect there wasn't any real intention here, just young guys talking **** and that's all it ever would have been.

But then someone (or someones) from the group decided to act on the "plans." In this imagined possible senario I'm gonna assume that Hilton (the guy alleged to be the leader of the actual incident) was in that bs session and decided to make it happen for real. The questions then are:

1. Did TA encourage or authorize Hilton to make it happen?
2. Did Hilton think TA authorized it, even though TA didn't?
3. Did Hilton take the initiative on his own and he (and/or his co-conspirators) use TA's name to try to lend legitimacy to the actions for the lower level players?

Obviously if it's #1, that's bad. Whether there's evidence of it remains to be seen but it's still bad if TA actively was involved in anyway.

If it's #2 then it's potentially bad. If Hilton legitimately thought TA authorized it (but TA didn't), he may accuse TA of doing it and maybe law enforcement believes him and maybe they go after TA. In this situation TA is innocent, but still have to deal with court cases to clear his name.

If it's #3 then it's just bad PR. TA needs to get better friends but it's just a a bad look having his 'friends' be criminals.