1. Calvin Johnson Retired
Everyone’s favorite transformer hung up his hat this offseason along with his Hall of Fame worthy stat line. Megatron could put up 1,000 yards and 8 TDs rain or shine, whether he played in 10 games or 16. That kind of production is not easily replaced.
The Lions’ will look to Marvin Jones to fill the bulk of the production void, but guys like Eric Ebron, TJ Jones, Golden Tate and Theo Riddick will all have a hand in replacing Johnson’s production. The offense is going to look different. The defenses the Lions see will look different.
No doubt you’ve likely heard that some or most of these guys have looked great during OTAs, especially TJ Jones and Ebron, but that’s par for the course this time of year. I have more faith in Johnson’s ability to suit up in August than in Jones and Ebron picking up a lot of the slack lost due to Johnson’s retirement.
If Golden Tate and Marvin Jones don’t each go for 900 yards, Calvin’s production won’t be replaced. Failing to replace Calvin Johnson’s production would be a really bad sign for a team with as many holes on their defense as the Detroit Lions.