The new offensive coordinator, Darrell Bevell, has been a run-heavy play caller and is in Detroit to help control the ball more while head coach, Matt Patricia, is tasked with playing more lock-down defense. It’s important to keep the whole team perspective in focus when discussing any matter.
That’s the scenario. Reminder, the Detroit Lions also had an offseason to get better up front via the draft and they declined to select anyone for the offensive line unit with any of their nine picks. They have made a couple of minor moves to bolster the backup situation, though.
The question of the present has likely already been decided. Wiggins has been lining up at left guard and on the other side, Glasgow has assumed the duties at right guard. At best that is a one-year solution unless both men were extended and no one else was brought in, which seems unlikely.
One question to answer is whether or not a one-year fix is the best direction to go in at the current time? It seems likely that the Lions will probably re-sign Glasgow taking care of one spot probably for the next four or five years. Wiggins seems unlikely to stick around for another contract but could be retained as a competent reserve given the lack of depth.
The Detroit Lions are sitting in a division where they have come in second three out of the last five years. The offense made a move from the bottom of league in rushing up to their highest ranking since before former coach Jim Caldwell was hired, twenty-third according to the NFL website. Bevell’s rushing focus is likely to increase carries to the tailbacks, too.
The Lions also were middle of the pack in sacks, tied for fourteenth. Those rankings were also partially attributable to having T.J. Lang in games, as well. Here’s a breakdown of the line’s rankings from Pro Football Focus to add some context:
The @Lions offensive grades as a team in 2018:
— PFF DET Lions (@PFF_Lions) January 16, 2019
Offense: 75.1 (16th)
Passing: 75.5 (14th)
Pass Blocking: 80.7 (8th)
Receiving: 72.8 (T-21st)
Rushing: 70.2 (23rd)
Run Blocking: 59.9 (11th)
Overall Team Grade: 83.2 (19th)#OnePride
The final results from 2018 are encouraging for the whole line while Wiggins’ grade was poor (54.8) and ranked sixty-ninth among all guards according to Pro Football Focus. At his best, playing left guard like he did with the Chargers, his highest rating was 65.7 which is still below average.