During the 2021 season Detroit collected more than their fair share of heartbreaking losses, but on December 5th in Week 13 versus the rival Minnesota Vikings the competitive and scrappy Lions finally secured their first of an eventual 3 wins on the year. Fans were already familiar with and accepting of the fact that Newly Hired GM Brad Holmes and Head Coach Dan Campbell were at ground zero of a complete rebuild.
The organization withstood a bumpy year one and approached the offseason with 2 glaring concerns. Lack of difference makers on offense, and defense! While they were not the big spenders that some of the other teams were in free agency; they were however able to make the most of the cap space they did use by resigning Wr Josh Reynolds to a 2yr deal and bringing in former Jaguars budding star DJ Chark on a 1yr deal.
The quest for a more competitive receiver room didn’t stop there it carried over into the 2022 NFL DRAFT where after taking potentially the top edge rusher in the class at N0.2, GM Brad Holmes followed it up by aggressively trading up 20 spots from 32 to 12 in order to pick Alabama star Jameson Williams.
On paper this roster has taken tremendous strides since the end of the 2021 Season, and after 3 weeks of OTA’s (Organized Team Activities) there seems to be a more positive and confident vibe altogether coming from Allen Park. All issues can’t be remedied over one offseason especially when you’re only in year 2 of a reclamation, and there are certainly some real areas of interest in my opinion that this team has going into 2022. In no numerical order let’s go through my 5 Biggest Concerns for the Detroit Lions.
OFFENSIVE LINE DEPTH
Pro Bowl Center Frank Ragnow missed 13 games in 2021 due to a toe injury after missing only 3 in his first 3 seasons as a pro. Starting LT Taylor Decker was also slowed by nagging injuries last season only appearing in 9 contests. The team invested the 7th overall pick in Tackle Penie Sewell who paired with 2nd year Guard Jonah Jackson to become two of the biggest bright spots on the entire team, and backup Center Evan Brown stepped in nicely in replacement of Ragnow, or wherever else the team could use his versatility.
After those 4 pieces the level of talent, and depth along the O-Line begins to trail off significantly. Right Guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai is serviceable at best going into his 7th season in the NFL, and quite frankly there’s not much experience either behind the starters. 2nd year Guard Logan Stenberg will play a huge role in the rotation, and we could also see 2 UDFA Tackles not only make the team but possibly play vital roles at some point during the season. (Obinna Eze 6’8” 334lbs TCU) & (Kevin Jarvis 6’6” 325lbs Michigan State.)
JEFF OKUDAH
Jeff has had a rough first 2 years in the league to say the least. He went from a man heavy scheme in College to an NFL scheme that required him to play a lot more Zone, more Reading, and did not do his skillset justice, or justify making him the 3rd Overall Pick in 2020.
GM Bob Quinn & Head Coach Matt Patricia were both relieved of their duties after the 2020 season, and Okudah had a much-needed fresh start with the current regime. The first game of 2021 would turn out to be his last of the season when he suffered an ACL injury against the 49’ers, making his journey back to high level football even tougher. Jeff has 2 years remaining on his rookie deal and is in a position of having to take major strides in 2022 in order to even possibly see a 2023 with this existing rebuild.
JARED GOFF
Despite leading the Lions to a 3-13-1 record in his first season as the Starter, Jared Goff displayed a surprising amount of poise, toughness, and patience throughout which was undoubtedly his most challenging season as a Pro since his rookie season. He was in a brand-new organization, and offensive scheme, was missing his best 2 offensive linemen for majority of the year and was hampered by a very underwhelming receiving core.
Over this offseason the team has done a great deal to insure that Goff does not repeat his 2021 struggles. The Lions have an offense that by Thanksgiving could see DJ Chark/Josh Reynolds/Amon-Ra St. Brown/ and Jameson Williams all on the field in the same package. A bigger, stronger D’Andre Swift appears more equipped to finally handle the load between the tackles, and TE TJ Hockenson is healthy and ready to have a breakout year.
Goff is 27 and entering the prime years of his career, but has no extended commitment from Detroit past 2024 with a potential out in 2023. There’s a huge amount of pressure on Jared to perform at a high level this year, and show this regime that he is in fact the long term answer at QB; but with issues such as field vision, pocket awareness, ball security, and decision making continuing to be concerns in his on field play last season it is very uncertain whether or not Goff will ever finally ‘Put it all together”.
LINEBACKING CORE
The return of a healthy Shaun Dion-Hamilton who missed the entire 2021 season due to an undisclosed injury will be highly welcomed. This positional group has continued to fall under the most scrutiny over the past several years with good reasoning. The lack of production, pass rush threats, coverage skills, and 1 leader within the unit has continued to burn the potential of this defense as a whole.
The Lions decided against spending big money in Free Agency, and instead chose to resign a couple of familiar faces in Alex Anzalone & Charles Harris, move 3rd year player Julian Okrawa to outside linebacker predominantly from 4-3 end, and invested late round picks in this past April’s Draft in Jackson State’s James Houston and Oklahoma State’s Malcolm Rodriguez. Collectively there is a lot more speed, pass rush, and attitude within this unit than prior years, but there are still too many questions on coverage assignments in the pass game, experience, position fits, and overall top end talent to feel comfortable about this group heading into 2022.
BEN JOHNSON / DAN CAMPBELL
Offensively Detroit got off to an historically bad start in 2021, which lead to the demotion of then Offensive Coordinator Anthony Lynn, and Head Coach Dan Campbell taking over play calling duties after Week 9. Pairing that gutsy decision with the immediate signing that week of Josh Reynolds, and the Lions offense began to show signs of life down the stretch.
Campbell made his fair share of questionable decisions where in hindsight look worse, but he also gave the offense more confidence with his aggressive style of play calling, and allowing his players to be playmakers; But there were still too many “Green” big moment decisions last season for the team to not get a more settled and younger offensive mind in the room.
TE’s Coach Ben Johnson was officially promoted to Offensive Coordinator back in early February after taking on extra duties in the passing game last season. He is considered by many around the league to be one of the next young coaching names in football, and a lot for him Head Coaching wise in the future could potentially be riding on how well Jared Goff and this upgraded Lions offense can perform. Campbell has stated on more than one occasion that there has been no permanent decision made on who will be the de facto play caller, and that the two will enter the season as “Co-Play Callers”. This will be an interesting relationship to monitor early on in the season especially if the team offensively starts off anything even remotely similar to last year.
