We didn't sign Sewell to a billion dollars to play RT

Long write up on the future of the oline - TLDR: who the **** knows after 2024, but damn sure better hope at least 2 of the 3 of Sorsdal, Mahogany and Manu work out!

Which, FWIW, I think is realistic to hope for given the "in Holmes we trust" sentiment.

Draft analysts definitely succumb to group think. So while all the analysts may think it's a steal, it's mostly just a single hivemind thing and it's clear the NFL GMs who are more immune to that all felt he's a 6th rounder. Maybe it's just the Beau Benzschawel vibes I'm getting. From like the 3rd round on in 2018 he kept being shows as Mel Kiper's best available and then went undrafted and never got off the practice squad. I'm obviously not writing Mahogany's career off at this point, but I think it's more likely than not that none of the O-Line players they drafted are ever quality starters.

His future is at left tackle, I agree with this. But as long as Decker is good to go and Brad can work him in under the cap, I'd rather have Decker at LT with overpaid Sewell at RT, than Sewell LT and some liability at RT. Brad has some tough cap decisions coming up and Decker is clearly one of them. The problem is good tackles require you to either have a top 20 (and realistically more like top 15) pick, a big cap hit, or you strike gold later in the draft.

I still think this was a rare deep O-Line draft where good tackles were falling into the 20s and maybe you could've traded up for OT and picked up Rakestraw in the 2nd too and hit both needs. I know I'm usually team lol draft for need, it just felt like this was maybe a rare opportunity to get a good player at OT later in the draft than they usually fall. Although maybe Brad is already looking ahead to next years class when deciding where to reach up for certain positions.

I think it's more likely 0 of 3 work out than 2 of 3. If I'm right, then Brad will either have to go FA shopping to keep the O-Line strong or hit it hard in next years draft.

Interesting you think that, I thought the OL class was weaker than usual. After Alt and Fuaga, meh. And yeah, I wouldn't have taken either Latham or Fashanu.

The tackles that fell into the 20s were Jordan Morgan and Tyler Guyton. Morgan is probably a guard in the NFL and Guyton is something of a project. Either is fine, but neither a slam dunk. After that you have to go to the end of the 2nd round for the next guy.

One thing we can all agree on though is that the front office is going to be watching every transaction out there and if a guy gets cut that they like they'll go get him.

My uneducated impression is backup o-line play is abysmal throughout the league to the point it's almost impossible that a C- backup would hit the wire; would love to be wrong though!

The Lions podcast covered the open day of rookie mini camp, he spends a couple minutes on each rookie (including short updates on several undrafted guys). The Manu update is enough to get a kool aid drinker salivating, describing how he looked raw with terrible technique and hands placement, Haley had him work on a drill on hand placement, then he came out and showed perfect hand placement and absolutely obliterated a guy ("like a bulldozer pushing a garbage can"). Fun listen anyway.

Maybe Manu works out, maybe he doesn't but damn it sure looks like a great gamble for the Lions as his upside is immense.

Had he played HS at Mater Dei or St John Bosco and received pro level coaching at Alabama or Michigan you probably have a 1rst round pick. Worth a 2025 3rd round pick? I dunno, but seems like a great place to roll the dice.

Ourlads 2024 depth chart (grain of salt obv since camp hasn't even started yet) has Davis/Arnold as starting CBs and Branch as NB

Which leaves Mosely, Robertson and Rakestraw as backups. I can't remember ever having 3 backup DBs that actually belonged on an NFL roster and weren't street FA or PS level players.

Lol it's hard not to be hyped af for this season. (Mostly copying this which I posted on reddit the other day: ) Last year we had a top-5 team because of an amazing offense (including OC) and a good-enough defense with great DL production from a couple of bright spots, decent LBs and a very suspect secondary, particularly CB. We've now brought in four CBs in Davis (trade), Robertson (FA), Arnold and Rakestraw; and, who knows, maybe Mosely can contribute after losing all last season to injury. We may go from having one of the very worst position groups in the league in our CBs last year, to being above-average at the position in '24. We also added one great piece to the DL in Reader. Meanwhile we brought back every single piece on offense (including OC) except for one guard, and we have a one-year rental on a pro-bowler to replace that position. Holy cow.

Goff extension done. That should be everyone, right?

Totally fine with the Manu flier. Nothing wrong with splurging on a lottery ticket here and there and he has all the potential in the world.

I don't buy that Arnold is going to begin the season as a starter, but he'll be in the rotation right away and may get there by the end.

I was wondering if the Goff extensions was going to happen. It's hard to argue with his results but he does have his weaknesses. I like where this team is. I don't have a problem with the Manu gamble, I'm just more concerned with oline depth overall. It could get ugly if injuries pile up, and Goffs weaknesses come out when the blocking struggles.

I expect Arnold to start the preseason as a second teamer but will have an opportunity to earn a starting CB role by week 1. I'm also fine with where this team is if even first round picks aren't starters right away.

McNeill only signed thru 2024 and I would not be sad if they extended him too. Obviously you cant pay everybody but seems like an young, ascending DT they would want to keep and his price likely not gonna be cheaper next year.

McNeill is an interesting one. The DT market is on a bit of an upswing right now, and while he's clearly the best on this team, I can see them kind of going the Jonah Jackson route with him. At some point, and maybe that starts with him, they are going to run into the problem of you can't pay everyone. Some good players are going to have to walk.

The DT room was serviceable with him hurt, and they've spent some more recent draft capital on the position. My guess is they make him a hometown discount offer and he walks if he wants top $$.

I agree, there may well be a disparity between what McNeil thinks he is worth versus what the Lions are willing to pay at this point.



Nice to hear Dan Campbell say that Jamo is doing work. They're obviously counting on him taking a leap.

Still think McNeill should be extended but certainly not gonna say no to extending LT Taylor Decker


Training camp hype on Jamo is off the charts! I cant even imagine the excitement if he starts showing WR1B talent. Please do not let this be Dan Campbell hyperbole as a motivation tool - I wont be able to handle it.

People should not forget he was considered by many to be the WR1 coming out of college in 2022 before he got hurt, ahead of Drake London, Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave

Rake is a stud! His buddy cop side-quest with TA should be good.

Jamo might not be in the JJ/Tyreek class of wide receivers but he can be damn good. His athleticism is a real problem. The amount of weapons they have on offense right now is disgusting. I've never seen anything like this.

This roster is insanely stacked right now. Brad Holmes went absolutely ape **** fixing the defensive backfield this offseason. We went from having career practice squaders starting the NFCCG to wondering what position Brian Branch is even going to play now since they overloaded the backfield.

There is no reason to think this team can't get back to the NFCCG with a better shot to win it this time. Even if some of the aging players regress a bit like Decker, Frank, and Graham, the O-Line is likely still very good if not top 5, with best in NFL still being a real possibility.

The only position group that feels thin is on the D-Line. If Hutch goes down there is really no one else there who can step up. We shall see if Marcus Davenport and Mathieu Betts are up to the task. Supposedly Betts is looking decent in camp.

Backup QBs both looked much better in game 2. Wouldn't read too much into it, but it's there. Hooker was notably more confident standing in and going through his reads.

Scrub OL also looked better. Sione Vaki showed out as a receiving RB.

Wasted my time watching a preseason game of course but it was still nice having football to watch.

It feels good to start the season off with a win. There's some warning signs that maybe it won't just be a leisure cruise back to the NFCCG, but the sky is still the limit for this team. They took away Amon-Ra and LaPorta, so Jamo stepped up to burn them. The ground game is still highly effective, with D-Mo being one of the best power rushers I've seen, and Gibbs being as elusive as ever. The O-Line didn't play their best game but stepped up when it mattered.

On defense the run D looks good. The line was getting decent pressure but just couldn't finish sacks. The Davenport addition looks pretty good, although he was primarily to blame for getting pressure and then whiffing on a statue of a QB. Terrion Arnold was matched up with all-pro Kupp for a lot of the game and struggled like most corners would, let alone a rookie in his first game. I'm not super shook, and he wasn't a complete liability. There were a couple dropped INTs as well (Branch and I think Calrton Davis?). Defense can be high variance, and I expect you'll see that a bit this year, with some great games and some duds. But the potential is there.

Hard to complain about any win. Certainly think getting Jamo involved was more important than worrying about ARSB or LaPorta getting a certain amount of targets. No concern at all that either of those guys are gonna start squawking about lack of catches, but likely Johnson feeds them next week just to keep everybody happy

Loved seeing the Lions exert their will to run the ball in OT, Monty made it look so easy. The O-line continually firing off the ball at the snap while the Rams DL looked tired and defeated was joyous

Agree run-D looked good, can only get better with Reader right? Rams did love the quick throw and underneath routes so not surprising they didn't get a ton of sacks even against a makeshift O-line, would've liked to see more dominance. No complaints about the rookies, sure Arnold is gonna get beat and have some silly penalties but he definitely looks like he belongs in the NFL

Almost everything went wrong on offense. Play calling sucked. Run game wasn't consistent. Goff looked bad. Some serious screw up at the end of the first half. A hilarious 1 for 7 in the red zone with only 4 of 7 resulting in points. Some questionable reffing. And they lost to a likely playoff team by 4. I've seen worse. Clean it up please.

While it wasn't Ben Johnson's finest game, it was Goff's worst game indoors since forever. He was ****ing AWFUL. Completely inaccurate, bad decision after bad decision.

The Defense stepped up and played a decent game. Certainly good enough to win if the offense doesn't **** the bed.

Warren > Goff