The Beginning of the End

[MaroonBells]

Detroit added some nice pieces in the draft and they damn near won on the road @ SF in the playoffs....Their org has done a nice job with that franchise.

Hard to hate on the Lions or their fans.

They've had a couple good drafts in a row now and they might have the best group of young OLs and DBs in the NFL.   

But this isn't a dominant team by any stretch. They still have Jared Goff, whom I consider a notch below Kirk Cousins. Jack Campbell was a bit of a disappointment for them last year. Marcus Davenport is their Edge2 and they're seriously going into 2024 with Jameson Williams as WR2. Let's see them endure injuries to QB1 and WR1 like we did last year and see how things turn out.

[medaille]

There is a shortage of quality QBs in the league. There’s only two pathways for sustained quality QB play. You pay your good enough QB too much. You draft another QB before your first one gets paid their second contract. I don’t necessarily think that paying your QB is the wrong choice, but I do think that once you start paying them, you are getting on the treadmill of stealing from the future to pay for today, and you will eventually need to do a reboot. Obviously if you have a HOF caliber QB, you keep them, but I think with Cousins or Goff caliber QBs where you know there’s a gap between them and the top QBs, I’d much rather have another guy in the pipeline that has potential to become that top tier QB.

You could do what the Vikings did and get rid of your QB and hope to get one, but I think that’s a pretty risky proposition. I think, by all accounts, the Vikings made the situation less risky by targeting a very QB-rich draft class. I’m not sure how well the plan would have worked out if Cousins would have remained injury free and he played all season. We probably would have had to pay out the nose to get McCarthy or Nix and Turner would have been off the table. Some of the best QBs are available throughout the first couple rounds, but you can’t just plan on a Lamar Jackson or Jalen Hurts falling to you late in the draft or a Mahomes falling to 10. Those are things you need to capitalize on when they become available, not a plan you make.

[wiviking]

Detroit added some nice pieces in the draft and they damn near won on the road @ SF in the playoffs....Their org has done a nice job with that franchise.

Hard to hate on the Lions or their fans.

I'd disagree with not being able to hate their fans. 
I was at a conference the week after Detroit got bounced out of the playoffs. In the past, Detroit fans stayed where they belong. In the closet. But after their season, they were not just obnoxious. It was over the top. Two different people told me that Dan Campbell is the best coach in the league. One of those guys went on about how he is the best coach in the history of the nfl. Talk about not being able to deal with even moderate success.
The nice thing about Detroit is, you know they are still gonna Detroit. And Campbell is gonna Campbell.

[Kentis]

Detroit is simply betting on this guy being able to win them a Lombardi, we shall see…

[bigbone62]

Man, I just dont see Goff at that Burrow/Mahomes/Allen level..

Tick below - but you can win with him no doubt.

Or Herbert level either.

Aside from rushing I think you'd be surprised how much Goff is on the same level. The major difference is one has a history of winning when it matters, the other is Justin Herbert.

[StickierBuns]

Aside from rushing I think you'd be surprised how much Goff is on the same level. The major difference is one has a history of winning when it matters, the other is Justin Herbert.

And a guy like Joe Burrow....who the media loves, but is always injured. I'd take Goff over Burrow every day. Burrow needs a few years of injury free football, but that isn't his history. Goff gets the Rams to the Superbowl, they bail on him and he almost does the same thing last year with Detroit. Talk about an underrated guy. He's like Kirk Cousins, only Goff has actually accomplished something.

[MaroonBells]

And a guy like Joe Burrow....who the media loves, but is always injured. I'd take Goff over Burrow every day. Burrow needs a few years of injury free football, but that isn't his history. Goff gets the Rams to the Superbowl, they bail on him and he almost does the same thing last year with Detroit. Talk about an underrated guy. He's like Kirk Cousins, only Goff has actually accomplished something.

Goff and Cousins are a lot alike. You can win championships with them with the right surround. And NFL teams would be wise to more often target veteran QBs like this over rolling the dice in the draft. I think the Lions, Vikings and Falcons were wise in doing that. But it begs the question: who is the next Goff or Cousins? 

Honestly, it might be Sam Darnold. Daniel Jones might be another. He's still with the team who drafted him, but if the Giants move on at some point, I could see Jones hitting a groove in a better offense in a few years. He's still only 26.