RedRamage

They all have NOT been in my kitchen.

Assuming everyone comes back healthy, I don't think you need anymore defensive additions. DL: Hutch, McNeill, Reader, Smith LB: Barnes, Campbell, Anzalone DB: Davis, Branch, Joseph, Arnold Plug in those four players and you'll get much more QB pressure, much better WR defense, and better run defense as well. Obviously you always try to upgrade, but this defense is not a bad defense when healthy. Just way too many injuries to over come.

Just too many injuries on defense. This turned into anti-complimentary football. Defense couldn't get stops, Offense made too many mistakes.

I am SHOCKED... Just SHOCKED!

I used to think that a big part of it was that he retired a year earlier than Trammell. If they'd both retired at the same time they would have been up for HOF at the same time and that would have been a bigger story. But after Trammell was voted in by the committee and Lou wasn't when they both could have been at the time makes me think it was more the petty writers vs. timing.

I remember reading a quote from a voter after that happened which basically went something like this: "What? Wow... I mean I didn't vote for him because he wasn't a first ballot HOFer, but he shouldn't have been dropped off right away." The idea of a "First Ballot HOFer" is dumb and I think definitely has had a lasting effect on Whitaker's HOF chances. Given that I don't think the "First Ballot HOFer" idea isn't likely going away I think they should adjust the rules with dropping players from the ballot. Not that anyone's asking, but here would be my rules: You need to get at least the same same percentage of votes as the years you've appeared on the ballot in order to remain on the ballot. This gives newer players an easier chance to remain around if they happen to either not be "First Ballot" worthy or if they happen to be on a ballot with a lot of really good players. But it becomes increasingly hard to stick around the longer you've been on the ballot as the reasoning you might be been overlooked initially becomes less and less realistic as time passes.

Locked on Tigers podcast had an interesting take on this. He posited (with the disclaimer that he had zero inside info, just his gut feeling) that the Tigers made their "best offer" to Bregman and that Bregman's camp is basically us this as a fall back option... that they are waiting to see if anyone gives a better deal but if not they go back to the Tigers and start negotiating in earnest.

The comp picks are only for minorities, aren't they?

Interesting. I would assume that base pay would NOT include any thing like premium shift bonuses. Imho the fact that it's called a bonus would seem to indicate it's above and beyond the base pay. But, I don't even come close to resembling a lawyer or have ANY knowledge of labor laws, so if the law says that things like shift bonuses need to be included, then obviously they should be. Again, assuming the law says it should be calculated this way, I'd hope that the Tigers didn't know the law and thought they were doing the calculation correctly. However, given that this is being brought as a lawsuit I tend to think the employee at least tried to talk to management once or twice about this and point out their error (again assuming the employee is right) and those conversations when no where.

I'm gonna make a prediction here: If Glenn gets an HC job in 2025, he's gonna hire Duce Staley as his OC.

That's the secondary worry of course. I mean losing your OC or your DC (or both) will obviously hurt, but if you have a succession plan with one of your internal guys that will definitely help. I think we're all kinda assuming that Kelvin Sheppard is the Lions pick for DC if Glenn leaves, so I don't think Glenn would get a HC and then try to bring Sheppard as his DC, but maybe?? And even if he doesn't, if he takes people like Townsend (DBs) and/or Williams (DL) and/or Corrao and/or Hamilton (Asst. LBers), that means we promote Sheppard, then have to fill his slot AND any other vacancies left for people who left with Glenn. That's where the real 'brain drain' could happen. Sheppard (assuming all the scuttlebutt is true) seems like he would step in nicely as the new DC so there may not be much lost there. But if Sheppard not only needs to be the DC, but also needs to 'coach up' 3 or 4 or 5 new other coaches as well, that could take time. Now what if you have this issue on BOTH sides of the ball?

This... a 1000% this. I suspect it's partly a matter of the Lions being good now, but I find SOOOO suggested things in youtube especially with click bait headlines like "What the Lions just did will change everything." or "Breaking: The Lions just signed THIS player!" or "The NFL has no answer for this move by the Lions." Youtube finally seems to have realized I don't what this after I keep flagging them as "do not recommend." I think there's just so much "content farming" going on... just put something out there. Low quality, low effort, clickbait title/thumbnail just to get the clicks and ad revenue. They're not trying to be insiders, they're not trying to be quality content or building a fan base... just want the clicks.

3.35 > 3.2... So I think you're ahead of the game, right?

I think it's also worth pointing out that Darnold did better against the Rams than the Lions: ~80 more yards on one fewer attempts and nearly 20% higher completion percentage. The Rams numbers are not really that far out of line for Darnold over the season. His season average (including the playoff loss) is 254 yards per game with a completion percentage of just barely shy of 66%. Now, I'm certainly not trying to say that the Lions defense is stellar now because they dominated the Vikings to end the season. We should NOT read too much into that. But I think Darnold is getting too much of the blame for the Rams game. He ABSOLUTELY deserves a good portion of it. But any time an OL is giving up 9 sacks and the RBs only manage 87 yards combined... there's problems there beyond just poor QB play.

They mentioned this during the Bills game: Chiefs and Lions record vs. Bills: 0-2 Chiefs and Lions record vs. the rest of the NFL: 32-2 That's kinda amazing.

Wait, what??? You mean ....... if we just win two ......... more games then we'll ......... be in the .......... SUPER BOWL?!??

I don't love the idea of facing a running QB, but having Anzalone back will help there a bit.

I think I'd prefer to not play the Eagles or the Commanders right now mostly because I don't think we match up well against running QBs.

No, no, no, no!! I don't want to lose Fraley.

As for the draft... here's how Holmes will draft: BPA, BPA, BPA, BPA, BPA... and BPA. Oh, and BPA. He's shown repeatedly that he's going to target the best players (according to them) who is available almost regardless of positional need. Part of me would want to see them get some backup for positions like OL that are getting older and expensive, but this isn't how Holmes works. He'll draft whomever he thinks will have the best chance of being a star player. If that means he don't end up with the depth we need or we don't have a starter ready to fill in for a retiring/leaving player, Holmes will fill that with a short term deal FA. Look at what he's done in the past and how it's worked out: 2021: Drafted a DT in round 2, so we filled that need... why are we drafting ANOTHER DT in round 3? Do we really need Alim McNeill? 2022: St. Brown is a star in the making and we're desperate for secondary help. Why are we trading up for a WR named Jaymo or Jamo or whatever? 2023: We just signed Montgomery and you're drafting another RB? Who is this Gibbs anyway? A linebacker?? Rodrigo's been a nice pickup... why do we need this guy? Wait.. a Safety? Joseph was such a nice surprise from last year why are you getting another one?

Iffy: I'd love to keep him if we can for cheap, but I'm not spending on him. We have Joseph and Branch as starters and a quality backup in Joseph. Low priority here. Barnes: I'd making him a priority. I don't think we have as quality depth at LB and we certainly are lacking quality depth at pass rushing. Barnes is a necessity. Levi: I'd probably try to keep him at a reasonable price. We need the depth, but I'm not paying him 2nd round money. Too many injuries, and not really star-level production when he's healthy. I want him, but only at a reasonable price. Jamo: Pick up the 5th year, start working on a longer deal if he looks good starting in the 2025 season. Pascal: Punt until next year. See if he can stay healthy, see if he can be productive when healthy. Joseph: Pay him. Rodrigo: Try to keep him on for the right price. Don't overspend, but we need the depth at LB and he decent when he's on the field. Davis: Try to keep him for another 1 or 2 year deal. Cominsky: Keep him if he's willing to sign for a reasonable amount. We need the depth. If Levi leaves this becomes a bit of a higher priority. Davenport: See ya! Zeitler: Give him a 2 year deal. We need stability while we work on future OL pieces. Patrick: Try to keep him for a reasonable price. FA: I agree that there will likely be no bit free agent signings. I don't think we have too many glaring holes that outside of perhaps DL. I think in most positions the price to upgrade won't be worth the level of upgrade we get. Obviously if a number of the guy in yellow or green don't re-sign, that will change the calculus here.

Not necessarily. If you're dropping from 3 to 2 preseason games that makes up for the extra game. Then you just start a week sooner or end a week later. That said, I wouldn't be opposed to dropping that week. The Pro-bowl stuff as gone from being a joke or worse than a joke. No one cares about it at all. Try to make it more interesting by putting it before the SB doesn't help.

I guess it depends on how the clock works, but this would be simple to fix as well and would be much better than an official subjectively counting out that last second in his/her head.

Regarding the play clock: I do NOT want a horn a buzzer because I'm sure there will be LOTS of times where this doesn't get turned off in time and the horn or buzzer goes off during a play. That could be disruptive. Lights would be better, but still there's a level of needing to react to the lights and then verifying if the ball has been snapped or not. Honestly I think there's a much simpler solution: Just add this task to a new person in the replay booth. It would not be hard at all to have someone watch a screen that has the clock and live video of the play. Give them a button that buzzes an official OTHER than the head ref (so there's no confusion on what the buzzer means... is it a replay thing? Is it a delay of game thing?) and that ref blows the play dead as soon as the buzzer goes off.