Chins up, Lions faithful.
This isn’t over.
Yes, the season didn’t end the way most Detroit fans hoped. That’s true for pretty much everyone but one team’s fanbase.
Think of it this way: Detroit’s free agent class next year already includes Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Alex Anzalone and Malcolm Rodriguez, who all missed big chunks of this season. Next year only has to be healthier, right?
The only unrestricted free agent starters are Carlton Davis, Derrick Barnes, Kevin Zeitler and Marcus Davenport, plus guys like Levi Onwuzurike, Kindle Vildor, Khalil Dorsey, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Tim Patrick and Dan Skipper, who are valuable backup options. They can keep Za’Darius Smith for another year if they pick up his team option.
The desolation on one side of the ball was something almost unseen in NFL history, where almost all of a team’s serious injuries were to its defensive unit. If something similar doesn’t happen next year, the Lions very well could be right back in the teens in wins.
Then came the poaching of Detroit’s coaching staff.
Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson defected for NFC North rival Chicago as head coach, while defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn took the New York Jets head coach position. Receivers coach Antwaan Randle El and assistant quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett followed Johnson to Chicago. QB coach Mark Brunell could do the same with Glenn.
When a team wins, they get poached. The NFL is a copy cat league, and teams will try to replicate the magic Dan Campbell spun in Detroit.
But, frankly, I expected Johnson and Glenn to take even more assistants with them.
Losing Glenn and Johnson wasn’t shocking to anyone. Both seemed a matter of when, not if, they’d get head coaching jobs. Johnson staying in the division was the surprise.
The Lions replaced Glenn with the in-house promotion of linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard, with Shaun Dion Hamilton promoted to LB coach. They added Kacy Rodgers from Tampa Bay to replace Terrell Williams, who took New England’s defensive coordinator job. Perhaps most importantly, though, offensive line coach Hank Fraley chose to stay after interviewing for Seattle’s offensive coordinator spot.
The Lions will be just fine, folks.
Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have just about everyone’s confidence, and the Jets taking Glenn gives Holmes an extra third-round pick to work with in April’s draft (plus another next year).
Holmes and Campbell are building for the long haul. There’s isn’t a short window here. Holmes rebuilding this roster through the draft and filling in with mostly mid-range free agents is sustainable.
Yes, they’ve been so good at drafting that there will come a time when the organization can’t fit them all under the salary cap, but that time hasn’t arrived.
In the meantime, enjoy this era of Lions football. It’s the best you’ve ever seen from this franchise.
Don’t worry. Savor it.