Detroit Lions: Build a complete team, but don’t forget the quarterback
By Robert Jones
The Detroit Lions are attempting to build a complete football team. But they shouldn’t forget about a quarterback.
The rebuilding is in full force down at Allen Park. The Detroit Lions news regime of general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell are busily tossing out the old trash left behind by their predecessors, players that don’t fit their plans and searching for new players that might.
One man’s treasure is another man’s trash and vice-versa. The players that former general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia painstakingly gathered to build the abomination that allowed the Lions to compile a lowly record of 13-29-1 under Patricia’s almost three years at the helm, is now being disassembled.
Yet Lions fans are loyal to a fault as there are still a couple I’ve heard say that they believed Patricia would have succeeded given a chance. In today’s NFL where smart drafting and trading combined with shrewd free agency acquisitions can turn a team around drastically in just a few short seasons, Matt Patricia’s Lions did not show any signs of improvement.
As a matter of fact, the defense did nothing more than slip-slide down the statistical standings each season after a respectable finish as the NFL’s 10th overall defense in Matty P’s first year in charge. Since then his defense has spiraled down to lows even this comical franchise hasn’t trodden before.
The majority of fans are hoping for a well-balanced team that is built Ford tough. As in not just a pun, but a hard-nosed, physical team that is high on talent and effort. The type of team that can move the ball at will by land or air combined with a defense that can beat an opposing offense into submission.
That is the goal of Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell. Considering what they have to work with, it may take a couple of seasons of smart moves and player development before we truly see if Holmes and Campbell can pull it off.
The goal is simple; unlike in the past when the game plan for the last 12 seasons has been muddle through a game and hope Matthew Stafford can save them at the end, it’s now about winning in all facets of the game. But that doesn’t mean a franchise quarterback isn’t an important piece.