Coming off a disappointing 2025 season, the Detroit Lions are looking to rebound and circumstances are aligned to help them. Not only do they have a soft schedule, and the arrangement of the games lines up fairly nicely.
The Lions, overall, are in a position other teams envy. They have stability in the head coach and general manager spots that feels sustainable for years to come. They've drafted well enough that second contracts for all the players they'd like to keep around have been costly, causing a "problem" other organizations wish they had at all, let alone to the level they do.
Of course, that pipeline of big second contracts is drying up, removing one of general manager Brad Holmes' excuses for basically sitting out free agency year after year. But that's a separate conversation.
Lions fans should remain highly optimistic even if 2026 doesn't go as planned
In an ideal world, the Lions will reclaim their spot atop the NFC North this season, win a playoff game or two and....well, we can let our imaginations roam about the possibilities beyond that.
But if things don't go as well as hoped this season, or the loftiest goals remain elusive, there are still reasons for fans to maintain high hopes moving forward.
ESPN analysts Aaron Schatz, Ben Solak, Louis Riddick and Seth Walder have collaborated to predict the 2027-2029 outlook for all 32 NFL teams, based on quarterback situation, remaining (non-quarterback) roster makeup, front office and coaching staff. They used a 100-point scale, weighing quarterback-20 percent, roster-30 percent, front office-25 percent and coaching-25 percent to reach the average score.
The Lions came in third, with an average score of 86.2 and top-10 rankings in overall roster outside of the quarterback (sixth), coaching (seventh) and front office (fifth). The reason(s) for hope, even with the obvious caveat from Solak, is the clear-cut one.
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"As GM Brad Holmes begins paying the legendary 2023 draft class that galvanized this Lions turnaround, future contention becomes tougher and tougher in Detroit. But between Holmes and coach Dan Campbell, the Lions' leadership is unquestionable. And Detroit's group of young stars entering their primes (RB Jahmyr Gibbs, LB Jack Campbell, OT Penei Sewell and WR Amon-Ra St. Brown) is as deep as any."
The Lions roster is so deep with young stars who are in their prime that Solak didn't even mention a few guys, like defensive end Aidan Hutchinson.
Walder picked up the slack, though, with a bold prediction that Hutchinson will win Defensive Player of the Year at some point in the three seasons from 2027-2029. That begs the question "why not this year?", but the premise of the exercise was the three seasons after this one and Walder stuck to it.
So, as the Lions continue to be in a stretch of years unique to the rest of their Super Bowl era history, optimism can, and should remain high until further notice.
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