Are the Detroit Lions only treading water in the NFC North?
Key Losses: Eric Ebron, Haloti Ngata, Tahir Whitehead
There are certainly arguments to be made that all of these moves were the correct decision from Detroit’s standpoint.
Ebron has been a disappointment from day one and needs a change of scenery.
Ngata was way past his prime even before his season ending injury last year.
Whitehead was…ok, I guess. But he’s a borderline NFL starter and the Lions can do better.
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I’m not saying that any of these arguments are technically wrong. The next question that goes along with it though, is who are they replacing these guys with? Are they actually getting upgrades?
Say what you will about Eric Ebron, but the answer in his case is a simple ‘no’. I’m sure plenty of teams went into free agency thinking, “let’s go after that tight end from Seattle.”
The problem is, the other teams were thinking of Jimmy Graham, while the Lions were thinking of Luke Wilson.
Graham ended up with Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay, and the Lions now have serious production concerns at tight end. Let’s hope that Michael Roberts has some crazy second year leap. Otherwise, the best receiving tight end on the roster is now a guy who caught 15 passes last year.
Devon Kennard was signed to take Whitehead’s linebacker spot, while defensive tackle Sylvester Williams will fill Ngata’s role. Neither of them are obvious upgrades at their positions either. This possibly leaves the talent level on the 2018 roster slightly lower than it was a year ago. Not a good sign for a team in obvious “win now” mode.