WR feels like a spot that if I was playing Madden I'd be trying to find a trade. How we went from almost unbelievably bad at this position a year ago to over-loaded is pretty impressive. Shouldn't we be able to get a backup CB or S for one of our ~WR4-5 level guys?

Maybe if we find the right customer. The key is to find a CB/S that has a high probability of getting cut but would be a priority waiver pickup and try and make the trade, and the team also has to want a WR. Or just trade for like a 7th round pick swap like we did with Blough. We knew he was getting cut so we jumped the waiver wire by giving up very very little. That's the other problem. No one is going to give up much to get a player that has a high probability of getting cut.

The main things that changed from this time last year are the emergence of Amon-Ra and the additions of Chark, Jamo, and Reynolds. Also Kalif Raymond got a decent contract. So that's WR1-5 this year when all are healthy. Kennedy while having an interesting preseason and camp is very likely to get cut. Cephus is still very intriguing. I love the guy. But he can't stay on the field so I have a bad feeling. They traded for Trinity Benson last year and he's also having a good camp but I think he's gone too. It's hard to see them keeping 6 unless one is mostly a special teamer, which Alexander and Benson have both played some.

Giving Kalif Raymond a contract extension was a weird move. I know he's a burner but he was pretty ineffective last year, the only reason I think he's in is his contract, I don't believe he's earned a spot over Cephus or Kennedy.

And we now have a 53 man roster. Some surprises but nothing too crazy. Some things of note:

-New backup QB from SF, Nate Sudfeld, Boyle and Blough both gone, waiting to see if one ends up on the practice squad.
-Went heavy on the OL, 9 total.
-Only 5 WR, with Cephus being the 5th after the 4 guaranteed spots. Will be interesting to see if he gets waved when Jamo is ready, or if they make room elsewhere. Also, shutting Jamo down for the season is still not out of the question.
-AJ Parker, who I thought showed a lot of promise last year, to the practice squad.
-Demetrius Taylor (DT) who had a very good preseason is the only UDFA rookie to make it this year.

I'm ready for the regular season. Bring on Philly.

While I have no problem with them making changes at backup QB, it does seem like this was a lateral move. We got rid of two no upside backup grade QBs, and got another no upside backup grade QB. He's been in the league for 6 years and has thrown 37 passes. I assume they did their homework and know he's an upgrade. Blough got picked up by Minnesota's practice squad. I have to imagine they are trying to find a 3rd QB right now for the PS, and hopefully it's a younger raw player that has some developmental potential.

Kinda agree with your assessment of back up QB but I am way higher of Goff than most.

Goff is a weird QB. He is incredibly accurate in the short to mid range when he has a clean pocket. But his pocket presence and deep ball leave much to be desired. I think he's at the bottom end of starters who are very difficult to find upgrades over, but in the right situation can be a star.

QB3 has been signed to the practice squad and it's... Tim Boyle. My guess is after getting Sudfeld as QB2 they wanted someone with a familiarity of the offense around. Rumor was Blough was the preferred PS player but decided he wanted a fresh start in Minnesota.

Vaitai to IR for at least 4 games - will we ever see this offensive line intact?

I guess if we HAD to lose a starter on offense he is the easiest to replace but still.....

Rapoport tweeted today they'll evaluate after 4 whether he'll come back this year or not. Weird for a potentially season-ending injury to come out of left field, i wonder if it came in the pre-season game or elsewhere.

Sternberg coming on strong in pre season makes this way more bearable - whether it's Sternberg or Kraemer starting, we still have another solid backup G behind him too in the other one.

I was a little surprised we picked up a random G with very little game experience from Cleveland, I would have guessed we put another position on the 53.

Gotta figure Forbes was a John Dorsey pick in 2019 that he still has hope for - pretty much a risk free move if he slides into Vaitai roster spot and gives them a couple weeks to determine if he fits here longer term.

Reportedly he looked fine when he came out of the preseason game. I think we get an injury report in a couple days, so we'll see what it is. Tommy Kraemer is now listed as the starting RG on the depth chart, but you can bet with how Stenberg played in the preseason that he'll be on a short leash. Dan Campbell did list some other options on how to address it. The most eye opening of the bunch was moving Sewell to RG. I think they like their swing tackles more than their G reserves, but still that seems insane. I'm also not a fan of moving Ragnow back to RG and putting Brown in at C. Even though Brown did decent last year, I think you want to keep guys at their designated position as much as possible. The only move you really want to see is Sewell move to LT if Decker goes down, otherwise I'd like to see them just stay put and slot in your best backup.

Hard Knocks finale tonight. I'm suspecting it will be most gut wrenching for Blough if they show him making it and then the subsequent cut.

Whelp - I was way wrong on these two.

Rodrigo 1" shorter and 10lbs lighter but faster than Spielman looks to have played himself into a starting WLB role. Even with HBO over-hyping the rookie there was no way the coaching staff could hide their excitement. Cannot wait to see him on the field vs Eagles

Lucas, as a 7th round CB, looks to have easily made the roster. He is currently listed as 3rd string but the fact he wasn't sent to the practice squad bodes well for his future. Can never have too many defensive backs once injuries start piling up

Lions currently hold the #1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft!!

My takes weren't much better. It's hard to project 6th and 7th rounders roles so it's just sort of easy to assign them the standard result for their draft position which is fringe roster player. Rodriguez didn't really have much competition for a spot. He slots right in where Jalen Reeves-Maybin was last year. The unit still needs upgrading, but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing the kid in action on Sunday.

Lucas did have to beat out last years started at NB, AJ Parker, who is now on the practice squad. It was a bit of a surprising move as I though Parker, despite being in the league a year, had more developmental potential. While the dropped INT got a lot of play on Hard Knocks, overall Lucas seemed pretty solid in coverage all camp. While it sounds like Mike Hughes will be the starter, I can't be too mad about them keeping Lucas over Parker.

Initial reactions are this team played about to expectations. Offense is a bit better, but still too many holes on defense. They are progressing as expected but have an uphill climb to compete this year. Getting Jamo going may spark this offense though as the WR corps leaves a bit to be desired.

When I said the wr corps leaves a bit to be desired last week I was of course not talking about Amon-Ra. Holy crap that dude can play. Overally a much cleaner game this week, of course against a weaker opponent. At least we know this team is now in a place where they can take it to an inferior team. Hutchinson gave us the 3 sack performance we've all been waiting for. It's impressive how just unblockable he can be. Okudah is starting to play like a legitimately good starting CB. That Swift TD was one of the more high effort plays I've seen in a long time.

That was one of the more fun Lions games I've watched in a while. This team is definitely at a place where if they keep this up and improve on it, they can make the playoffs. With every week I'm becoming more of a believer in the Holmes/Campbell regime.

Roster has too many holes to be a legit contender.

Their OL and DL are good enough to keep them in games, especially during the injury filled part of the season.

If we can keep the major pieces in place and hit on a Franchise QB, this team could compete in 2-3 years. If we whiff on the QB we're back where we've always been.

I guess it depends on what you mean by legit contender. Yeah they aren't going to be the Bill or the Chiefs this year, but I think there's a case to be made they are about where they were in 2015/2016, with a young core that can be built upon. The D-Line is the best it's been since 2014 easily and the offense just put up 2 straight 35 points games (3 if you count last years finale, and it's the best 3 game offensive stretch this team has had since 1952). They still need a LB and a CB, but if Okudah can cement himself as a legit starter, I think that takes a lot of pressure off Holmes in this draft.

Jared Goff is still a middling QB that can't make all the throws you'd like, and he got lucky they didn't pick him off yesterday, but he can also command a high powered offense and get you to a Super Bowl with the right supporting cast. They're also doing all this without Jameson Williams, who may be one of the faster receivers in the NFL, and we now have videos of him running and cutting. While I don't think it's mandatory, I think there's a decent chance we see him on the field at around mid season. Especially if they can stay around .500 until then and the playoffs seems within reach.

The QB thing is tricky. The last 10 or so games of Jared Goff have been OK. Given his contract I see him as the likely starter next year too. Although Detroit being on Lamar Jackson's short list of destinations is definitely intriguing.

Also I'm starting to wonder if we have a serious football mad genius in Ben Johnson. I don't really know what all went on behind the scenes last year, but the results were pretty clear. The first half of the season it was an Anthony Lynn offense and it was one of the worst offenses I have ever seen. Then we know Dan Campbell took over play calling and it became a very run heavy time of possession grind the game to a snails pace offense, trying to keep it close enough. That sort of worked a couple times. Then the last 5 or 6 games we saw the emergence of bit more creativity in the middle of the field. And that's when we started hearing stories about this TE coach who was drawing up a lot of plays and choreographing some of the better performances we've seen. Now in his first season as OC they put up 35 and 36 in back to back weeks, this week with an all reserve interior O-Line. Everyone talks about Aaron Glenn being a HC candidate, and I get it, he's got that stoic personality and leadership style you look for in a HC. But while personnel is a challenge, the defense isn't exactly lighting the world on fire. However the offense is suddenly doing things that looked impossible this time last year. I think it's only a matter of time before Ben gets some recognition around the league. It wouldn't surprise me if he becomes one of the young head coaches known for his strategic thinking like McVay and Shannahan.

I agree on the offense being legitimately dangerous even with Goff at QB.

It is refreshing to see the Lions get some chunk plays from a winning scheme. It seemed for the entire run from Linehan through Lombardi through Jim Bob Cooter, it was almost the expectation that all the receivers would be covered and Stafford would have to find the hole, or the WR would have to make a contested catch. The whole idea of play calling is to make sure the ball carrier faces as little resistance as possible, it's nice that Johnson at least understands that concept.

Only caught the first half but it was incredibly impressive how the backup OL just completely destroyed Washington on runs up the middle.

Maybe these aren’t the same old Lions.

Redraft of 2021 WRs? Let's be honest - the only ones you would even consider in a 1 for 1 trade would be Chase or Waddle.

What a coup from Holmes to get this guy as WR#17

5 Ja'Marr Chase
6 Jaylen Waddle
10 Devonta Smith
20 Kadarius Toney
27 Rashod Bateman
34 Elijah Moore
49 Rondale Moore
56 D'Wayne Eskridge
57 Tutu Atwell
59 Terrance Marshall
77 Josh Palmer
82 Dyami Brown
85 Amari Rodgers
89 Nico Collins
91 Anthony Schwartz
109 Dez Fitzpatrick

112 Amon-Ra St Brown

Agreed ARSB goes #3 in a redraft there. ARSB vs. Waddle is at least debatable, but I feel like the general consensus would have Waddle with a slight edge.

How strong was that WR draft overall? I think most fans would say Chase is a top-5 WR in the league, and Waddle and ARSB like top-15. Smith, Bateman and E Moore top-50? Toney way too hurt and inconsistent, but the upside is still there too. Three top-15 guys and six top-50 guys seems strong at the top, I guess about average in the 16-50 range.

Hopefully Jamo is in this conversation this time next year.

Chase and Waddle have speed that Amon-Ra doesn't but Amon-Ra is running phenomenal routes and catching everything in his radius. The other guys can do more, but Amon-Ra does the things he does so damn well that he's an amazing weapon. I'm excited for what this offense looks like when Jamo gets involved. There's your true #1 speedster.

I actually thought Waddle might have been our pick in the draft until Miami grabbed him. I'm glad with how things shook out in the end.

Kool aid time

But if we win in Minnesota

PLAYOFFS?!?!!

I've been ripping lines of Angel dust looking at their October schedule and I keep coming up with 6-1.

I took my Lions flag down 2 days after their loss( I am in Philly market) but put it back up the following Sunday am. Nothing would please me more than flying this flag for 6 weeks straight