2026 Detroit Lions Offseason Thread

[Jason_R]

Don’t like at Chicago and at GB weeks 17 and 18. Let’s clinch before then. 

[MichiganCardinal]

Don’t like a week six bye, though they should be 4-1 at worst entering it.

Playing the Patriots in Munich, the Bucs in Detroit, and then the Bears on Thanksgiving is a brutal 12-day stretch too. Feels like the Lions could be the better team than all three of them and still come out 1-2.

[GalagaGuy]

Lions got screwed with all of the divisional road games coming in the final 4 games of the season.  Would have been nice to have at least one of those at home.  

[Sports_Freak]

7 hours ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Week one is always fluky. I’m just glad to not be playing a divisional opponent.

I always say it's kinda tough playing teams before they realize how bad they suck. For instance, the Saints. They come into week one trying to prove something.

[Jason_R]

13 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

I always say it's kinda tough playing teams before they realize how bad they suck. For instance, the Saints. They come into week one trying to prove something.

Detroit is coming into next season looking to prove something too. 

they came into last season with an entitlement mentality. They were coasting on their reputation and came into week one and got embarrassed. Dan Campbell remembers that. Penei Sewell remembers that. Gibbs and Goff and ASB remember that. They are going to come out in week one this year and try to establish their identity as bullies in the run game and precise in the passing game. They want to announce to the league that they are back. 

[GalagaGuy]

Interesting bit on ESPN today about the best fit for the 14 top remaining free agents.

 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

 

I remember when we were told Rod Wood was just a businessman and was not going to be involved in football operations. If this report is true and this moron actually could have helped us avoid an early, week 6 bye week, then that's a problem. This idiot shouldn't be making football decisions and certainly shouldn't be choosing an early bye week given the major injury concerns this team has had the last two seasons.

[KL2]

22 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

 

I remember when we were told Rod Wood was just a businessman and was not going to be involved in football operations. If this report is true and this moron actually could have helped us avoid an early, week 6 bye week, then that's a problem. This idiot shouldn't be making football decisions and certainly shouldn't be choosing an early bye week given the major injury concerns this team has had the last two seasons.

A) that tweet is awfuly written.

B) POD described it better in the comments

[Jason_R]

2 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

 

I remember when we were told Rod Wood was just a businessman and was not going to be involved in football operations. If this report is true and this moron actually could have helped us avoid an early, week 6 bye week, then that's a problem. This idiot shouldn't be making football decisions and certainly shouldn't be choosing an early bye week given the major injury concerns this team has had the last two seasons.

1. The tweet you posted is apparently not accurate. 
2. it is literally unbelievable that Rod Wood made any decision about scheduling an international game unilaterally. 
3. Rod Wood was involved in hiring Spielman, Holmes, and Campbell and in wholly changing the culture of a previously pathetic franchise. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 hour ago, Jason_R said:

1. The tweet you posted is apparently not accurate. 
2. it is literally unbelievable that Rod Wood made any decision about scheduling an international game unilaterally. 
3. Rod Wood was involved in hiring Spielman, Holmes, and Campbell and in wholly changing the culture of a previously pathetic franchise. 

I haven't yet listened to the Pride of Detroit podcasters break this down yet and how this all played out. It does seem a little far-fetched that a businessman like Rod Wood would be solely making a football decision like this. If the original tweet was wrong or misrepresented the situation, then it was.

[MichiganCardinal]

Rod Wood is literally just the communication guy between the Lions and the NFL. There was not a schedule decision made by Rod Wood in a vacuum. That would be ludicrous.

[Jason_R]

I just listened to TJ Lang on NFL Radio. He said a few interesting things.

first, he talked about Sewell’s move to left tackle. He said he watches Sewell at right tackle and believes that the position is not natural to him. Basically, you would not coach a right tackle to move the ways moves. But he is so physically dominant that he has become a pro bowl player. Lang says left tackle is Sewell’s natural position and he believes he is going to become a dominant left tackle. 

The other thing he talked about was attention to detail. But it wasn’t so much about the players. It was about Morton. Two different times, he said, “I don’t want to throw shade, but….” one of those times, he pointed out that the play action game was frequently run out of different run actions than they were using in the run game. The example he gave was that they would frequently run outside zone but scheme their play action in gap schemes. Bad attention to detail and defenses picked it up. 

[MichiganCardinal]

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Motown Bombers]

 

[Sports_Freak]

The Lions getting deals done is impressive. Next up? Gibbs!

[Motown Bombers]

Mina Kimes, who I generally like, had Goff at 14.

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Listening in to Campbell's first presser of the 2026-2027 season. Thought this tidbit was interesting and apparently Birkett did too.

 

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Some good:

 

 

 

[MichiganCardinal]

Some I don't love. Branch and LaPorta "improving" and not practicing is fine and expected. I'd probably like to see more than just "improv[ement]" from Kerby when it's been nearly 8 months and the injury was described as chronic.

Maybe it's just load management, they expect him to get X number of miles on his knee this year and they're going to try to use them as efficiently as possible. I'm just not sure what can be expected of him this year, or moving forward.

 

 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

24 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Some good:

They liked where Marcus Davenport was at too. I will believe it when I see Levi on the field, in a uniform, playing football.

[MichiganCardinal]

6 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

They liked where Marcus Davenport was at too. I will believe it when I see Levi on the field, in a uniform, playing football.

This was as non-answer an answer as Campbell will ever give too. It was more like “he looks good but I’m not going to compliment anyone in May.”

He was far from declaring that Levi would make the team or contribute.

[Mr.TaterSalad]

1 minute ago, MichiganCardinal said:

This was as non-answer an answer as Campbell will ever give too. It was more like “he looks good but I’m not going to compliment anyone in May.”

He was far from declaring that Levi would make the team or contribute.

Yeah, it probably is just that. I hope Levi comes back this year and makes an impact because we are thin at DT otherwise.