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Are the Detroit Lions ‘two players away’ as former QB suggests?

By Michael Kirkland

SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 5: Quarterback Matthew Stafford #9, left, of the Detroit Lions looks at a tablet device with quarterback Dan Orlovsky #8 of the Detroit Lions on the sidelines during a football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on October 5, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. The Seahawks won the game 13-10. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images)
SEATTLE, WA - OCTOBER 5: Quarterback Matthew Stafford #9, left, of the Detroit Lions looks at a tablet device with quarterback Dan Orlovsky #8 of the Detroit Lions on the sidelines during a football game against the Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field on October 5, 2015 in Seattle, Washington. The Seahawks won the game 13-10. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /
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Detroit Lions offense
(Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

Detroit Lions offense

We’ve covered some of this territory coming into the draft for Senior Bowl week (link below) and after the regular season was over but what are the major holes in the offense?

The offensive line has three players who are forming the base of the line in left tackle, Taylor Decker, right tackle, Rick Wagner, and center, Frank Ragnow. The guards are being treated as replaceable parts, apparently. The Detroit Lions used a rotation at both guard spots although free-agent guard-center Graham Glasgow was quite a bit more effective than his teammates.

The receiver corps, if it returns everyone, was the best unit that Stafford has had in his career. Kenny Golladay has been a true number one guy, Marvin Jones has been an excellent complement, Danny Amendola was very good in the slot, and T.J. Hockenson gave him a fourth option that put them over the top. If those guys all come back, Amendola is currently a free agent, Stafford could see All-Pro production again if everyone stays healthy in 2020.

Related Story. Deeper Dive: 3 Senior Bowl prospects to help the Detroit Lions offense. light

The backfield with Stafford, Kerryon Johnson at running back, Nick Bawden at fullback, and Bo Scarborough as the backup runner are a banged-up bunch but all are fairly capable when healthy. No one from this group made it through 2019 unscathed, though. It would behoove Bob Quinn to add another dynamic option to avoid the last two years of inconsistent production in the run game.

Depth everywhere is an issue with Stafford being the target of speculation that the Detroit Lions might be better off drafting Tua Tagovailoa instead of drafting defensive help. David Blough and Kyle Sloter are Stafford’s only backups at the moment. The relative health of the roster will be an obvious barometer of how 2020 will go and what kind of a job vice president-general manager Bob Quinn has done this offseason.

While one very good runner, one that is durable, like Nick Chubb in Cleveland, could be really effective in making Detroit’s offense very hard to stop, one player is not likely to transform the offense. The Lions have holes at wide receiver and guard, they need depth along the whole line, running back, and quarterback.

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