Mr.TaterSalad

The argument, at least on my end, is that there was speculation of Ragnow retiring for two straight offseasons, this one and the last. So if fans and the media were speculating about it, you'd have to think the organization was aware of it. What some of us wanted was for them to preplan for such a significant loss to your offensive line. It's why I wanted a G/C draft pick in the 2024 draft and wanted someone in this year's draft. I think if you added either a Zach Frazier or Jackson Powers-Johnson, had them sit behind Ragnow for a year, and brought back Zietler or a comparable free agent, you're looking at a different scenario for this season. If our OL this year was Decker/Ratledge/Fraizer/Zeitler/Sewell with Mahogany, Colon, and Skipper coming off the bench I think that's a net WAR of at least a win, quite possibly a net of two wins.

Brady's hair plugs look great.

I can't wait for the power vacuum in Venezuela now. The drug lords will be the new ISIS, essentially running and terrorizing the country even more so than they already may do. George Bush Sr. was 100% correct. When you invade a country and topple it's leadership, you better have a good plan to govern effectively afterwards and have a clear, well mapped out exit strategy.

I've said it for years that winning your division should have no bearing on whether you make the playoffs. The top 7 teams in each conference should get into the playoffs and should be seeded by their records. It's a joke that the NFC South gets a team in with a losing record, meanwhile a team with a winning record will potentially be kept out and that team could be us. People defend this format too for whatever reason.

His statement absolutely reeks of George W. Bush giving a mission accomplished speech.

We couldn't even get a ****ing year out of his no new wars campaign promise. So much for being the candidate of peace.

When I was looking at Spotrac they were showing the Lions as having over $20 million cap space, which would be 5th most in the league. Any restructures they do only adds to that. It seems with the restructures they would be in a very healthy cap situation with plenty of money to spend in free agency if they are smart about it. Brad doesn't blow money in free agency, so I'm certain they will be smart about who they sign. I just want them to be more aggressive in addressing needs, particularly along the interior Oline.

No they don't according to some around here. They are flat broke and are about to be in cap troubles. The reality is, they are ok, not great, financially right now. Assuming they restructure some of these deals, they can create more cap space and be in an even better spot. I expect a Jared Goff restructure that adds a 4th or 5th year to his contract. I also think over the next year or two that we may get a restructure of Sewell and/or St. Brown's contracts. In all three cases, Goff, Sewell, St. Brown, they will likely get a bigger signing bonuses and added years of guaranteed money to help lessen the current cap hit. Anzalone is not good enough right now, not young enough, and not at a position of great value, to warrant keeping him around. I wouldn't bring him back and I wouldn't bitch if he went somewhere else and had a nice season. I didn't bitch when Jonah Jackson left and his position is more important than Anzalone's is.

I'd like to think he is gone, but it surprised me when the kept him last time. Peopl speculated Marcus Davenport would be gone and he got brought back. I get it, Anzalone might cost more than Davenport does, but they like their own guys. I wouldn't keep Anzalone, even if he's got something left in the tank, because I think the money is better spent elsewhere.

If you are into the singer-songwriter artists like me, check out Travis Meadows.

Probably time for them to trade Bedard and start the rebuild over. I think Chiarot and Appleton + a pick should get it done. 🙂

Well we know why Sherrone missed him. As to everyone else, not sure. I'm surprised Ohio and other Big Ten schools missed him too.

Shame on the officiating crew for not using common sense and giving Georgia two free plays to try and beat Ole Miss. It's almost like John Gotti got to someone before the game and told the officials Georgia better win. They added a free second on the clock. Then gave Georgia a free kick, which Ole Miss stupidly didn't defend and should have. I thought the clock ran on an onside kick, but apparently not since that's technically a free kick. A dumb ending to an otherwise great game.

Indiana really working and dominating Alabama. I hope their Cinderella story continues.

I agree on this one. I think Decker retiring would give them more cap flexibility, but they're going to have to spend that cap space on finding a Tackle. I'd assume Sewell would move to LT. I would hope they wouldn't simply count on Manu moving up to be the starter.

All offseason I wanted another offensive lineman too. I advocated for bringing back Zietler or getting someone else in here. And if you go back to the 2024 draft thread, I was talking about the need to get younger at the offensive and advocating back then to take a guy like Jackson Powers-Johnson, Zach Frazier, or Cooper Bebe.

Branch still had years left on his contract. He was not in the final year. I guarantee you if this offensive line hadn't directly or indirectly cost them between 4-5 games this year we'd probably be in the playoffs and having a different conversation.

Who you let go and who you keep matters based on the position they play. Positional value matters to every team. Offensive line positions, all three of them, matter more than almost every other position on the field. They especially matter when your teams identity is based off of what that positional group can give you. This team built an identity and won off of their offensive line. Their identity was a tough, bullying line, that allowed them to have a dominant offense. A line that allowed them to run the ball, control the line of scrimmage, dictate the pace of play, eat up time of possession, and give Goff the protection needed to be aggressive with play action. They let the line become a weakness this year. If I have to let a Jack Campbell or Brian Branch walk because I want 5 solid starters, with no weak links, along the offensive line, it's the price I am willing to pay.

Hiring Morton was not insane, nor did I ever infer it was. In-fact, I liked the hire for the most part at the time. I just feel they could have broaden their search more. Maybe they did and I just wasn't aware of it or the media didn't report on it.

Resigning Kevin Zietler and adding another free agent Guard would have hurt the Lions financially when they had the 5th most cap space coming into the season? And I already know the rebuttal you'll give "But they need that money to resign their own players." And that is part of the problem. They're overvaluing their own talent for one and they're trying to resign most of the picks they drafted and replace other starters with cheaper players. It backfired on them and didn't work. In particular, it killed them along the offensive line. I'm not resigning Kirby Joseph or Brian Branch or Jack Campbell if it means I have a weak link at one ore more offensive line positions. I'll take a chance at a 4th or 5th round project pick starting at safety versus the offensive line. The offensive line is the most important position group on the team and has the most important individual positions outside of QB and maybe edge/pass rusher. Everything this team was built off of, their entire identity, was predicated on their strong offensive line. Their running game, the ball control on offense, wearing teams down by controlling time of possession, the play action they run with Goff, were all successful because their offensive line was elite. It's no longer elite. This year it became a weakness. It cost them multiple games and a shot at the playoffs. It cost them against Green Bay in the opener, Minnesota twice, Philly, and Pittsburgh. If this year's offensive line was as good as last year I think you're looking at another 2-3 wins.

Morton had been in the organization, on Campbell's staff, in 2022. Yes, Lynn was an outside hire, but Morton was on Campbell's staff and was not someone new that Campbell hadn't worked with. I don't get the sense that Campbell went and did an exhaustive search for a new OC to replace Johnson. It seemed to be between Morton and Montgomery once Tanner Engerstad got poached to be the Jets OC.

The indictment is that they didn't utilize free agency to address the needs they had on the offensive line foremost and also on their pass rush. They had one of their top interior lineman leave in Kevin Zietler and another retire in Ragnow. They knew, as many fans and media has speculated, that Ragnow was contemplating retirement for two seasons now. They knew they Zeitler was only around for one year. They had to know Glasgow's play was declining. Jacksonville knew they had a problem on the offensive line and their new GM was aggressive in free agency to try and address the problem. Our GM did not proactively address the offensive line in the 2024 draft, nor did he address it at all in free agency and instead had one of his top interior lineman walk on him. Being aggressive in free agency can be a big issue when you overpay for players, put your team in a bad salary cap position by doing so, and then the signings don't pan out or live up to the salary you're paying them. Trent Baalke, Jacksonville's prior GM, is an example of someone who overspent on free agents and it didn't work out at all. On the other side of that coin is the Brad Holmes/Scott Harris approach of doing little in free agency, relying on the draft and next man up to fill your needs. It looks good when you win 15 games and have a strong, productive draft class. It doesn't look good when you allow a strength to become a weakness. That's the part that would be the indictment IMO.