One current NFL executive thinks the Detroit Lions rank in the bottom half of the NFC. No, for real.
With all the positive predictions surrounding the Detroit Lions this offseason—including a non-insignificant amount of Super Bowl picks—I figured it’s worth pointing out one of the few detractors out there. The latest actually comes from a current NFL executive in a survey from The Athletic’s Mike Sando.
Sando polled five different, unnamed executives to rank every single team in the NFC. Two has the Lions second, one had the Lions atop the conference, one had the Lions fifth.
And then there was the other NFL executive, who wildly had the Lions NINTH in the conference. Team they had ranked above the Lions include the Packers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bears, Falcons, and Seahawks.
Per Sando, one of the NFL executive’s biggest argument for this bold prediction was that Detroit’s offense was one of the most largely studied this offseason, and he believes teams will catch up.
“They treat third down like second down, and that was something that became very public as they went deeper,” this exec said. “Teams are going to pick up on that, and they play a tougher schedule, and there’s more (pressure) on them and we’ll see what it looks like.”
While this person is certainly welcomed to their own opinion, the biggest flaw in this argument is assuming that offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and coach Dan Campbell will move forward unchanged. In fact, quarterback Jared Goff said this week how good at evolving Johnson has been since becoming Detroit’s play caller.
“I think that’s where Ben’s done a great job every year now, is innovating, being creative, doing things maybe that haven’t necessarily been done before or we haven’t seen on film,” Goff said Tuesday. “But trying it just for sake of trying it and for the sake of he thinks it’s a good idea. Sometimes it works at practice. Sometimes it doesn’t, we shelf it, and try it again later, but that creativity and that innovation is so important to stay on the cutting edge.”
And the notion that he Lions may buckle under the pressure is a silly one. Detroit had plenty of attention and pressure last year to win the division and they went out and did it decisively—then took it a step further by nearly making it to the Super Bowl.
Obviously, no one knows the future, and it’s certainly possible Detroit fails to meet their extremely high expectations in 2024. However, the argument laid out by this executive is pretty unconvincing and reeks of sour grapes.
