Detroit Lions Offseason Thread 2023

[RedRamage]

4 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I hope Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn get head coaching jobs. Good teams have their coordinators hired by other teams and good coaches having a coaching tree. I want a Dan Campbell coaching tree. Good teams develop new coaches. Do you think Andy Reid cares when teams come for his coaches? The Lions should have coordinators in waiting in case Johnson and Glenn get hired. 

I agree with all of this... but I won't mind if it didn't happen until like 2024 instead of 2023.  I won't mind another year of stability.

[Tenacious D]

55 minutes ago, Motown Bombers said:

I hope Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn get head coaching jobs. Good teams have their coordinators hired by other teams and good coaches having a coaching tree. I want a Dan Campbell coaching tree. Good teams develop new coaches. Do you think Andy Reid cares when teams come for his coaches? The Lions should have coordinators in waiting in case Johnson and Glenn get hired. 

I think only two years into his professional coaching career is asking a bit much in terms of building an assistant coach factory.  I’d prefer to have another year or two with some stability and let his coaching tree take root. The fact that BC and AJ are getting interviews is validation that he is on the right path.

[Tigeraholic1]

1 hour ago, RedRamage said:

Do you have a link to that?  I could only find the week 18 rankings which came out before the final games.

This looks more accurate.

 

 

[buddha]

i want aaron glenn to get a job so the lions get a draft pick.

[Motown Bombers]

Aaron Glenn's replacement. 

 

[Motor City Sonics]

With the imbalanced schedule...............I was wondering if, instead of having a home/away imbalance at 9/8 or 8/9, why not have 17 neutral site games.   2 or 3 in London,  2 in Mexico City,  1 in Germany then some markets that don't have NFL football like Toronto, Orlando, San Antonio, Salt Lake City.........play some games in college stadiums.    

[sagnam]

23 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

With the imbalanced schedule...............I was wondering if, instead of having a home/away imbalance at 9/8 or 8/9, why not have 17 neutral site games.   2 or 3 in London,  2 in Mexico City,  1 in Germany then some markets that don't have NFL football like Toronto, Orlando, San Antonio, Salt Lake City.........play some games in college stadiums.    

This is the correct answer

[Motor City Sonics]

8 minutes ago, sagnam said:

This is the correct answer

So our 17th game this year is the Baltimore Ravens. 

 

Detroit vs. Baltimore might be a good fit for a game in Memphis, Knoxville, Happy Valley, maybe Toronto.    I could say Columbus, but fuck Columbus. 

Edited January 11, 2023 by Motor City Sonics

[RedRamage]

44 minutes ago, Motor City Sonics said:

With the imbalanced schedule...............I was wondering if, instead of having a home/away imbalance at 9/8 or 8/9, why not have 17 neutral site games.   2 or 3 in London,  2 in Mexico City,  1 in Germany then some markets that don't have NFL football like Toronto, Orlando, San Antonio, Salt Lake City.........play some games in college stadiums.    

I kinda like that idea.  Owners might bitch about lost ticket sales, but if you could give 'em a cut of the neutral site's ticket sales... some about each year might be the same or close to all the amount one year and none the next.

[MichiganCardinal]

I like it. International games should be scheduled around bye weeks though the same way TNF games aren't but should be. Maybe schedule domestic neutral site games for weeks 1-3 and 16-18, international games in weeks 4-15, and have the schedule go Sunday (neutral site) -> Bye Week -> Thursday Night 

It would take someone smarter than me (or a computer) to figure that out logistically, but the NFL could be a lot smarter about scheduling its bye weeks.

This also doesn't solve anything when the NFL ultimately cuts another preseason game and goes to 18 regular season games in the next CBA.

[Motor City Sonics]

4 minutes ago, RedRamage said:

I kinda like that idea.  Owners might bitch about lost ticket sales, but if you could give 'em a cut of the neutral site's ticket sales... some about each year might be the same or close to all the amount one year and none the next.

Maybe add Manchester, England or Dublin,  Vancouver, Montreal, Monterrey Mexico, Berlin, Frankfurt,         I mean, Rog wants the international games, well here you go, and nobody loses a home gate to play overseas.     I would say Tokyo or Sydney, but the time difference is so extreme that you'd really be throwing the two teams' schedules off.      

[Motown Bombers]

 

[buddha]

early 30s with one year of OC experience.  this league is nuts.

[Motown Bombers]

Dan Campbell had zero coordinator experience and Vrabel had one year of coordinator experience. These teams theoretically aren't going to have openings next year except for Houston so it's either take the chance on hiring the next McVay or let some other team do it next year. 

[Tenacious D]

1 hour ago, Motown Bombers said:

 

He’s gone.

[Motown Bombers]

Has a Lions coordinator ever been hired by another team as a head coach? Like while they were still a Lions coordinator? I remember Terryl Austin got a little attention but I don't think a Lions coordinator was ever a hot candidate. 

[1984Echoes]

1973: Chuck Knox.

[MichiganCardinal]

I still don’t think he goes. Even McVay was an OC for three years in Washington before he got a job.

Johnson might end up a finalist somewhere but I still think an NFL ownership team will want more than one year of being an OC at a 9-8 club. I could be wrong. He’s appealing.

[1984Echoes]

3 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

I still don’t think he goes. Even McVay was an OC for three years in Washington before he got a job.

Johnson might end up a finalist somewhere but I still think an NFL ownership team will want more than one year of being an OC at a 9-8 club. I could be wrong. He’s appealing.

It's a huge jump from designing and running plays to running an entire team (reducing the amount of time doing what he knows best at this point...). I don't think he's ready yet but who knows?

[Motown Bombers]

Zac Taylor spent part of one season in the NFL as an interim offensive coordinator under Dan Campbell and on the same staff as Ben Johnson and that was four years before he got hired by the Bengals. He was Jared Goff's QB coach. Teams want the next hot shot offensive guru. 

[Motown Bombers]

Mike McDaniel is another young coach with only one year as offensive coordinator. Did McDaniel even call plays in San Francisco? 

[MichiganCardinal]

I get why teams are intrigued. If I was a Panthers or Colts fan, I would want my team interviewing Ben Johnson.

At the same time, I think he would have to absolutely blow me out of the freaking water in that interview to get me to hire him this cycle. For instance, without being in the interview rooms, I think that teams are pretty stupid if they hire Ben Johnson over Jim Harbaugh.

On one hand, you've got what could be a good, young, up-and-coming coach who at his best could take my team into the future of the NFL as offensive schemes go. On the other, you have a coach who has gone 44-19-1 as an NFL coach.

Even Mike McDaniel, who I agree would be the closest comp to a Ben Johnson hiring, at least came from the Mike Shanahan coaching tree that produced Kyle Shanahan, Matt LaFleur, and Sean McVay, and had been with the 49ers for four years. With Ben Johnson, we are talking about a guy who has spent one year as a coordinator (two years with the regime), before which he was on a Matt Patricia coaching staff, before which he was on an Adam Gase coaching staff. There is also the question that's been discussed here, in how much of the offense is him and how much is Dan Campbell. Is a team sure they want to bet the next 2-3 years minimum on someone whose prominent resume point is as the offensive coordinator to an offensive-minded head coach, who is likely himself a finalist for COTY?

My point is that hiring Ben Johnson would be a huge gamble in a billion dollar industry. Teams may be willing to take it. But with only five jobs open (so far), I think guys like DeMeco Ryans, Kellen Moore, Dan Quinn, Jim Caldwell, and Jonathan Gannon, who have gone through a few of these cycles now (if not a HC job already) and have a proven track record, have a leg up. That's even before considering teams who may be friendly to Jim Harbaugh and Sean Payton.

When the dust settles, I don't think he finds a match in this cycle. I do think that if the Lions meet their newfound expectations next season and win the North, both Glenn and Johnson are likely gone.

[MichiganCardinal]

Reviewing the NFL's official hiring, firing, and interview tracker, I was surprised to not see any Lions front office folks on the GM lists for the Titans or Cardinals. Not that I'm complaining, but what the scout team here has done in just two years has been nothing short of remarkable. 

[Motown Bombers]

I'm not sure why Harbaugh didn't get an NFL job after he left the 49ers. I'm not sure why Meyer, Kingsbury, Ruhle all got jobs ahead of Harbaugh. For some reason either NFL teams don't want him or he hasn't seen a job he wanted. To be honest I would rather have Harbaugh than Payton. 

[Motown Bombers]

6 minutes ago, MichiganCardinal said:

Reviewing the NFL's official hiring, firing, and interview tracker, I was surprised to not see any Lions front office folks on the GM lists for the Titans or Cardinals. Not that I'm complaining, but what the scout team here has done in just two years has been nothing short of remarkable. 

I was thinking the same thing especially since a guy like Ray Agnew would satisfy the Rooney rule. Agnew also has front office experience with the Rams. I think teams will eventually start to come for the Lions front office.