Why Bother
By Mark Halpern
Before the Lion’s season even began, they were making the headlines. The Lions decided to trade their long-time starting Quarterback to the La Rams. Matt Stafford had thrown for over 40000 yards as a Lion and led them in every quarterback category. The Lions decided they wanted to get a younger talent, and so they traded Stafford for a young quarterback who has had success in his first two seasons with the Rams in Jared Goff. Now On Paper, this was a fair trade. The advantage for the lions is that Goff has proven himself and is young and comes with a little more protection contract-wise. For the Lions, Stafford was coming to the end of his career, and they weren’t going anywhere with them, so they decided to get what they believed was the best value. Well, things went exceptionally well for Stafford (Rams winning the Superbowl), and for Goff was right there and then traded to try and improve the Lions. Well, suffice to say he didn’t have a Super Bowl-caliber year, but he still managed 3300 yards and 19 touchdowns on a team that was just plain awful. The running game was supposed to be held and geared by second-year standout Deandre Swift, but he had an injury-plagued year. They let their only two wide receivers on the club with any real experience go to other teams. With no clear #1 receiver, this gave the young rookies a chance to stand out, and Amroa St. Brown had a good season ending with 90 recs for 912 yards and 5 touchdowns. He was by far the biggest standout on offense.
The Lions finished 3-13-1 on the year, mainly because they were playing from behind most of the year because the defense was dreadful. The Lions finish last or near last in all defensive stats. You can’t expect your offense to do it all. The defense was a sieve allowing tons of rushing yards, and then the failure to be able to cover or stop opposing offenses causes a problem. If the Lions upgrade their defense this season, they might have a fighting chance in the NFC North (which seems to be slowing falling apart.)
Here is what you hope Aiden Hutchinson doesn’t go #1 overall and use him at the #2 spot. He would be a considerable upgrade to the rush game. Their next pick is #32, but I am sure teams are looking to deal, and the Lions need offensive line help and Wide Receiver help, and this draft is full of both. That is what I would draft in the first round. Second round, they only have one pick, so I would think another Defensive Lineman or Line Backer. The Lions have two third-round picks, and it’s possible they could draft a QB to learn under Goff because he won’t stay in Detroit after his contract ends if the team is not a contender. I would again get another OL in the next round and then grab a secondary player in later rounds. Detroit also has the cap room to play with, and names like Christian Kirk would give Goff a massive WR upgrade plus, there are a plethora of players out there who would fit on this team and a budget cost.
The Lions are in complete rebuild mode. Goff was on a Superbowl team to be traded to one of the worst franchises in the NFL right now. However, I have faith in Geoff, and I believe he still has to skills to win. It is now on the Lions organization to give him the tools he needs to win.
To Quote a Meme. The Detroit Lions hung a Championship Banner up for their former Quarterback who won the Superbowl on the team they just traded him to.
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