The Detroit Lions‘ shopping list is rather long this offseason, but the need to rebuild the passing game will certainly affect their strategy.
The NFL Scouting Combine will begin this week and after all the talk of the Detroit Lions extensive list of needs, the combine will usher in the much-anticipated offseason transactions that will occur in free agency, trades and the draft.
For an NFL junkie, this is almost every bit as exciting as the regular season and playoffs. For Lions fans, this is their playoffs.
It’s like some sort of special diet. Lions fans aren’t allowed to order the lobster and steak, they can only watch others enjoy this wonderful meal. So instead they load up on the appetizers in free agency and the draft. After all, you gotta eat something, right?
Yet it is only through thoroughly examining the appetizers that talented teams are built. Sometimes a team will get lucky and order a Tom Brady in the sixth round of the draft, but most of the time successful offseasons are built on intense scrutiny and a very good eye for talent.
This will be general manager Bob Quinn’s second offseason of trying to finding players that fit the Matt Patricia mold to be successful in his system.
I still believe that the defense will get top billing, especially with their needs for an edge rusher and a playmaking cornerback to line up opposite of Darius Slay.
But not much further behind those needs, if at all, is the gaping hole at tight end that needs to be addressed as well as a few good men who can catch the ball for the receiving corps.
The balance between finding the right players to fill a team’s needs in free agency and the draft can be a delicate one. Especially given how unequal the opportunities are.
So while the Lions may not be a popular free agency destination and like everyone else has to wait in line to see what’s available when they get on the clock in the draft, shrewd moves are still the difference between winning or losing the offseason.