Detroit Lions: Kerryon Johnson more essential than Barry Sanders right now
By Robert Jones
Has the Detroit Lions explosive rookie runner Kerryon Johnson already become more essential to this franchise than Barry Sanders used to be?
The Detroit Lions continued to evolve further away from how this team has been traditionally run this past week by trading away their top receiving threat, Golden Tate, at the deadline.
One of the enduring myths that has held this franchise captive is the idea that talented players can’t be replaced.
When a teams front office doesn’t know what they’re doing, that may be a valid point, but generally speaking, every player is expendable and supremely replaceable.
That very knowledge is what has allowed teams around the NFL to make hard decisions that hurt initially, but benefited their teams in the long run.
Back in 1989, the Dallas Cowboys were rebuilding under the new ownership of Jerry Jones and his hand-picked head coach Jimmie Johnson who was asked to replace the legendary Tom Landry. The Cowboys top asset was running back Herschel Walker, which Johnson traded away to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for a king’s ransom of draft picks, mainly, and a couple of players.
Those draft picks became the foundation of the Cowboys teams that won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1992-93. They also won it all again in 1995.
This has always been a very difficult idea for the professional sports teams in Detroit, and their fans, to understand. The owners and front office personnel wouldn’t dream of trading popular players because the fans love them and pay good money to watch them.
But look at how much Matthew Stafford has developed since Calvin Johnson retired. Sure we often talk about how great Calvin was and how much we would still love to have him on the field, but this team has gotten better in the wake of his retirement.
Yes, the fans here in Detroit love their players, but what do they really want? Iconic players that happen to draw us to them, are nice. That does help build the relationship between the fans and our teams, yet if we as fans are honest about what we want from our teams, isn’t it for them to win championships?