Isn’t it time to start playing the draft picks you talk so gloriously about? Where is Rakestraw, Abney, Hassenien? There are a lot more picks that are either scratched on game day or sitting out the game. On the defensive side it couldn’t be much worse than the last 6 quarters. On offense Borom and Bartch are pretty dismal. These one year rent a veteran deals have not worked on either side of the ball. Develop the team with some long term playing time for the guys you want to be here for a long time.
Turns out Saints are a good team. Bills with Allen are really good.
We don’t need to be good in September. We need to win games and figure this s—- out on defense by Thanksgiving.
Shepp, Dan and Brad have their work cut out. Jets, Panthers and Cardinals will give us insight as to whether we can “stitch up” the mistakes and find players who can make plays.
Dan's not a "sky is falling" kind of guy, obviously, but this seems pretty bleak. Did he come off as pissed? It feels like he's got some guys in his sights that are gonna see their snaps drop this week.
I know this year on defense Shep was teaching more “concepts” than “assignments.” Any chance this has resulted in players freelancing? Hard to believe Hutch just abandoned his fundamentals.
He's taught conceptually since he worked with teammates as a player. It's something he adopted from former LSU coordinator John Chavis. There's no change on that front, other than there was an expectation returning vets were processing information at a higher level, like an intro student advancing levels with their field of study.
One thing I got out of session was Dan saying they will try attck DB issues with experience and upside. He said Holmes was "looking at a veteran guy...some Safeties on other teams...that are promising young players that we can potentially poach and bring in"
I still think the "O" can carry the Lions into the playoffs...especially with the Bears, Minny and The Pack all having their troubles. But in no way is this "D" battle hardened for a playoff run. I keep looking at the Seahawks with a bunch of no-names getting it done.
Never seen Dan Campbell look so down in the mouth and obviously frustrated. Almost like he's not sure what to do next because they just don't have the players.
That's on Mr. Holmes and his personnel team. I would expect that Dan Campbell is a part of that as well- when he has the time. But while we have a slew of high profile, high quality players, we are not strong throughout. On defense we're bandaids and fill ins. With a DC who is learning how to do this on the job.
It's a tough situation: 2-3 bad drafts in a row, topped with free agent signings that either didn't pan out due to talent, or due to injury. (What was the entire point of the Greg Dortch signing?).
There is no easy way out of this. I still see the Lions as a middling team this year. A lot of changes will have to take place over the next year or maybe two, to do a rebuild on the fly while we have those key players on offense, and a couple on D signed to extensions.
Hey...if I'm wrong and they take the NFC North and get into the playoffs- great. But I don't see this as a playoff team. Not currently. And not with that defensive back end.
Way too soon to judge 2026 draft but Miller is looking solid plus Gill Howard was a steal. Moore is getting his footing - looks promising. Rolder is injured but looked great in camp. Abney has good upside and likely starting within next year (or sooner). Plus O’Neil as a UDFA. Not sure what you expect - but this was a good draft. From 2025, I love Williams and Ratledge (who is playing like a first rounder). TeSlaa is our starting WR3 - needs reps/time but big upside. Hassanein is developing but you’d expect that from a 6th rounder - he made the roster. If Frazier is a depth piece I’ll take it considering where he was picked. Meeks was a UDFA and is now TE3. Not a perfect draft but far from a bad one and still too early to fully judge.
Sounds like Dan had the firehose going, blasting out a ton of info. Better than the Wings completely closed-mouth approach, by contrast. So many uncontrollables in the league, understandable that all the focus is on what we can control. But man, they better win the next three.
Safe to say, the entire secondary needs an overhaul, which is pretty sobering contrasting how we felt about it this time last year. Branch isn't even a sure thing, and I'm not sure how they handle that going forward with him being a FA.
I find it interesting that he mentioned the kickoff return unit is leaving a lot of meat on the bone.I could see in 2 returns that Dortch is way more explosive than Kennedy. I will never understand that call.
When Dan said "And then, really, we had a couple of guys that were responsible for the other hundred that can get cleaned up", do you which couple of guys that he was referring to?
Wonnum, Campbell, Moore, Hutchinson, and White were the culprits in run defense. White and Hutchinson were particularly bad.
Guessing Izzy will take Maddox spot at S. McCreary or Abney will take the full time slot role. Rodrigo will play over White. And then edge - Wonnum probably gets one more shot based on past performance before he cedes more snaps to someone else, guessing Lacy.
I've never seen an organization continually act so defiant to the obvious truth. We all know that Kerby is not going to magically be ready to play if he isn't already. The whole thing is ridiculous at this point, and I don't understand why they keep the narrative alive. Perhaps it is because this is another example of Holmes making a big move ($) that fails massively, and they can't let it go.
They just paint a picture of him being on the path to playing, when there’s no path. Maddox has no path this year. They had no problem communicating that. I guess I just stopped seeing this Kerby situation as anything different.
Kerby is never coming back. Just accept it. He can't be cut until next season. Assuming Brad didn't know he had a career ending injury, I can't fault the extension. What I can, and do, fault is the terrible drafting, all the vanity picks. Taking flyers on Manu and Vaki were OK if they came later in the draft and did not entail losing other assets. The ultimate travesty was drafting TeSlaa, a guy who not only can't play but cost them multiple picks to acquire. Shades of Bob Quinn and his "I'm the smartest guy in the room and that's why I drafted Teez Tabor and Jahlani Tavai before my buddy Belichick did". Brad is not carrying his weight.
I completely agree with this drafting criticism. I'll throw Tyliek in there too, who looks to be a fine player but is only going to play 60% of snaps at most.
The capital we spent on Manu, Vaki, and TeSlaa could have easily been spent on a decent center which would have saved last year and allowed us to spend more on the secondary this year.
Isn’t it time to start playing the draft picks you talk so gloriously about? Where is Rakestraw, Abney, Hassenien? There are a lot more picks that are either scratched on game day or sitting out the game. On the defensive side it couldn’t be much worse than the last 6 quarters. On offense Borom and Bartch are pretty dismal. These one year rent a veteran deals have not worked on either side of the ball. Develop the team with some long term playing time for the guys you want to be here for a long time.
Turns out Saints are a good team. Bills with Allen are really good.
We don’t need to be good in September. We need to win games and figure this s—- out on defense by Thanksgiving.
Shepp, Dan and Brad have their work cut out. Jets, Panthers and Cardinals will give us insight as to whether we can “stitch up” the mistakes and find players who can make plays.
Dan's not a "sky is falling" kind of guy, obviously, but this seems pretty bleak. Did he come off as pissed? It feels like he's got some guys in his sights that are gonna see their snaps drop this week.
Think he has the most difficult coaching tasks of his career ahead of him now.
Disarray and panic with a lot of hopium.
Kirby Joseph *Pffft*
I know this year on defense Shep was teaching more “concepts” than “assignments.” Any chance this has resulted in players freelancing? Hard to believe Hutch just abandoned his fundamentals.
He's taught conceptually since he worked with teammates as a player. It's something he adopted from former LSU coordinator John Chavis. There's no change on that front, other than there was an expectation returning vets were processing information at a higher level, like an intro student advancing levels with their field of study.
Justin, thanks for asking about Ennis and Ahmed. “In Dan we trust”.
Us fans have no other alternative at this point. Hope the coaches can work out the issues they need to work out.
One thing I got out of session was Dan saying they will try attck DB issues with experience and upside. He said Holmes was "looking at a veteran guy...some Safeties on other teams...that are promising young players that we can potentially poach and bring in"
Obviously they don't feel the answer is In House.
The only in-house options are a UDFA and a cornerback who played safety a week on training camp.
I still think the "O" can carry the Lions into the playoffs...especially with the Bears, Minny and The Pack all having their troubles. But in no way is this "D" battle hardened for a playoff run. I keep looking at the Seahawks with a bunch of no-names getting it done.
Never seen Dan Campbell look so down in the mouth and obviously frustrated. Almost like he's not sure what to do next because they just don't have the players.
That's on Mr. Holmes and his personnel team. I would expect that Dan Campbell is a part of that as well- when he has the time. But while we have a slew of high profile, high quality players, we are not strong throughout. On defense we're bandaids and fill ins. With a DC who is learning how to do this on the job.
It's a tough situation: 2-3 bad drafts in a row, topped with free agent signings that either didn't pan out due to talent, or due to injury. (What was the entire point of the Greg Dortch signing?).
There is no easy way out of this. I still see the Lions as a middling team this year. A lot of changes will have to take place over the next year or maybe two, to do a rebuild on the fly while we have those key players on offense, and a couple on D signed to extensions.
Hey...if I'm wrong and they take the NFC North and get into the playoffs- great. But I don't see this as a playoff team. Not currently. And not with that defensive back end.
2 to 3 bad drafts? Get out of here. 2024 was only bad draft.
2025- Tate is going to be a star. Tyleik is getting his shot this year. Unknown what his impact is yet.
Who else?? Isaac TeSlaa cost three picks and he’s been invisible. The others? Zero impact. I’m not hating. Just stating what’s happening.
Way too soon to judge 2026 draft but Miller is looking solid plus Gill Howard was a steal. Moore is getting his footing - looks promising. Rolder is injured but looked great in camp. Abney has good upside and likely starting within next year (or sooner). Plus O’Neil as a UDFA. Not sure what you expect - but this was a good draft. From 2025, I love Williams and Ratledge (who is playing like a first rounder). TeSlaa is our starting WR3 - needs reps/time but big upside. Hassanein is developing but you’d expect that from a 6th rounder - he made the roster. If Frazier is a depth piece I’ll take it considering where he was picked. Meeks was a UDFA and is now TE3. Not a perfect draft but far from a bad one and still too early to fully judge.
Yeah I was like wait beyond 2024 what else is a bad draft? 😅
I guess 2-3 based on vibes.
2024 swing and a miss, no doubt. But, tyliek, ratledge? Good players. I think ratledge might even be blue chip.
Teslaa isn't lighting the world on fire but he's a decent WR3. Hassenein is certainly not a failure from the sixth round. Frazier is still developing.
Early returns on 2026 draft are good. Idk.
Sounds like Dan had the firehose going, blasting out a ton of info. Better than the Wings completely closed-mouth approach, by contrast. So many uncontrollables in the league, understandable that all the focus is on what we can control. But man, they better win the next three.
Safe to say, the entire secondary needs an overhaul, which is pretty sobering contrasting how we felt about it this time last year. Branch isn't even a sure thing, and I'm not sure how they handle that going forward with him being a FA.
I find it interesting that he mentioned the kickoff return unit is leaving a lot of meat on the bone.I could see in 2 returns that Dortch is way more explosive than Kennedy. I will never understand that call.
Is he? 80 carreer kickoff returns, long of 40.
I like Kennedy returning. He goes north and south.
Kennedy's absolutely a better punt returner. As far as kickoffs, the Lions haven't been explosive since the new rules were put in. Most teams haven't.
Obviously Dortch is both a better wr and return man than Tom Kennedy.
There are often other reasons that a player isn't a fit on a particular team.
Chemistry with coaches, players or management comes into play.
The Lions have cut, or taken talented free agents and draft prospects off their board for a variety of off field reasons.
Not everyone can be a Lion.
When Dan said "And then, really, we had a couple of guys that were responsible for the other hundred that can get cleaned up", do you which couple of guys that he was referring to?
Wonnum, Campbell, Moore, Hutchinson, and White were the culprits in run defense. White and Hutchinson were particularly bad.
Guessing Izzy will take Maddox spot at S. McCreary or Abney will take the full time slot role. Rodrigo will play over White. And then edge - Wonnum probably gets one more shot based on past performance before he cedes more snaps to someone else, guessing Lacy.
I've never seen an organization continually act so defiant to the obvious truth. We all know that Kerby is not going to magically be ready to play if he isn't already. The whole thing is ridiculous at this point, and I don't understand why they keep the narrative alive. Perhaps it is because this is another example of Holmes making a big move ($) that fails massively, and they can't let it go.
They can't cut him and he's not taking up a roster spot. What would you like them to do?
They just paint a picture of him being on the path to playing, when there’s no path. Maddox has no path this year. They had no problem communicating that. I guess I just stopped seeing this Kerby situation as anything different.
Stop dangling the carrot, be honest. Or is that too much to ask?
Kerby is never coming back. Just accept it. He can't be cut until next season. Assuming Brad didn't know he had a career ending injury, I can't fault the extension. What I can, and do, fault is the terrible drafting, all the vanity picks. Taking flyers on Manu and Vaki were OK if they came later in the draft and did not entail losing other assets. The ultimate travesty was drafting TeSlaa, a guy who not only can't play but cost them multiple picks to acquire. Shades of Bob Quinn and his "I'm the smartest guy in the room and that's why I drafted Teez Tabor and Jahlani Tavai before my buddy Belichick did". Brad is not carrying his weight.
I completely agree with this drafting criticism. I'll throw Tyliek in there too, who looks to be a fine player but is only going to play 60% of snaps at most.
The capital we spent on Manu, Vaki, and TeSlaa could have easily been spent on a decent center which would have saved last year and allowed us to spend more on the secondary this year.