Lions News

[Futureshock]

C.J. Gardner-Johnson: Lions’ talent is a little bit better than the Eagles’ talent

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 21, 2023, 4:02 AM EDT

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New Lions defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson says the team he is on now has a little more talent than the team he was on last year.

That’s noteworthy because the team he was on last year, the Eagles, was in the Super Bowl. But Gardner-Johnson said at his introductory press conference in Detroit that in his opinion, this Lions team has a better roster.

“To be honest with you, it’s a little better, but that’s just on me,” Gardner-Johnson said. “Everybody can look from the outside looking in, but that’s just on me, from the outside looking in, but this team has talent. This team, we can win the division, possibly win the division. Everybody should feel that way, but when I look at a team coming from where I came from, and the teams I’ve played on that won multiple divisions, been to playoff games, and been to the Super Bowl, this team has what it takes to get there, win the division and get to the playoffs.”

Even if Gardner-Johnson is right that the Lions have more talent than the Eagles, that’s no guarantee that the Lions will have the same or even greater success than last year’s Eagles. Still, the Lions’ future looks as bright as it has in many years, and it’s easy to see why Gardner-Johnson is excited to be a part of it.

[Futureshock]

Graham Glasgow returned to Lions “to be back with my buddies”

Posted by Josh Alper on March 20, 2023, 3:27 PM EDT

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Guard Graham Glasgow had one spot in mind when the Broncos informed him of his release earlier this month

The Lions made Glasgow a third-round pick in 2016 and he started 43 games in his first three seasons before rotating with Kenny Wiggins in 2019. The Lions didn’t push to re-sign him as a free agent, which Glasgow said made him “bitter” as he moved on to Denver.

It’s a new regime in Detroit now, however, and Taylor Decker and Frank Ragnow remain on the offensive line for the Lions, so Glasgow prioritized a return to his first NFL team despite interest from the 49ers and Panthers.

“To play with some of my friends,” Glasgow said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “To play with Taylor, to play with Frank. It just came down to I wanted to be a part of that O-line room. I wanted to be back with my buddies. I wanted to be a part of this team.”

The Lions haven’t indicated the role they have in mind for Glasgow, but they could part ways with right guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai for cap reasons and Glasgow would likely be the choice to step into the starting lineup if that happens.

[Futureshock]

Dan Campbell is the betting favorite to win coach of the year

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 22, 2023, 8:20 AM EDT

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The Lions haven’t won a division title in three decades, but they’re currently favored to win the NFC North. So it’s no surprise that Lions head coach Dan Campbell is also favored to win the NFL’s coach of the year award.

Campbell is the betting favorite to be named 2023 coach of the year at FanDuel, via MLive.com.

The odds have Campbell at +1100, just ahead of Broncos coach Sean Payton and Bears coach Matt Eberflus at +1200. Up next are Texans coach DeMeco Ryans and Panthers coach Frank Reich at +1600.

The coach of the year award usually goes to a coach whose team exhibited significant improvement from the previous season, and that may explain why the Top 5 favorites are all the coaches of teams that missed the playoffs last season. It’s easier to be recognized for coach of the year if you’re coaching a team that hasn’t been very good previously.

And the Lions, who have just one playoff win since they last won a league championship in 1957, haven’t been very good for a very long time. But Campbell appears to be building something in Detroit, and if the Lions take another step forward in 2023, Campbell should be recognized for that.

[whatever_gong82]

Let Brad cook! I really don't care at all about the mock drafts right now, thanks to the gems that Holmes, Dorsey, and Agnew have been finding the last 2 years.



Mel Kiper: Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes deserves A or A-plus for first two drafts


Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press



One prominent NFL analyst is giving Brad Holmes high marks for how he's handled the draft in his first two seasons as Detroit Lions general manager.



"I’d give him an A, a solid A," ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. said in a conference call Wednesday. "You could go A-plus."



Holmes inherited a Lions team coming off three straight last-place finishes in the NFC North in 2021 and, after trading starting quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in one of his first acts as GM, has built the franchise into one of the leading contenders in the NFC entering his third season.




Holmes took cornerstone right tackle Penei Sewell with his first pick as Lions GM, No. 7 overall in 2021, added two more starters through the draft that spring, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and defensive tackle Alim McNeill, and took five defensive contributors last season.





Sewell and St. Brown made the Pro Bowl last season,; Aidan Hutchinson, the No. 2 pick of the 2022 draft, was runner-up for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year; and Hutchinson, James Houston (sixth round), Josh Paschal (second round) and Malcolm Rodriguez (sixth round) combined for 20.5 sacks, an NFL rookie record.





The Lions finished last in the NFL in total defense last season, but Holmes said at the combine earlier this month he liked where his defense was trending because of its youth.


Hutchinson, Rodriguez and third-round safety Kerby Joseph were regular starters in 2022, and Houston emerged as a top edge rusher late in the year.





"We had drafted six defensive players last year and five of those six guys, they end up playing some key roles for us but they were rookies," Holmes said. "So you can look at the number of, yeah, we don't want to be in the bottom five of the rushing and passing yards categories, but I will say the way we finished winning eight of our last 10 and seeing those guys grow together and learn how to play winning football, I think it shows. So I don't think the cupboard’s bare on defense just like you look at the overall ranking. But I think we got some good young players that showed that they can really help us going forward."




The Lions spent the first wave of free agency adding more upgrades to their defense, signing cornerbacks Cam Sutton and Emanuel Moseley and safety/slot corner C.J. Gardner-Johnson. All three project to play prominent roles in the secondary this fall, and Kiper said their additions open the board for Holmes in April's draft.




"I went away from the corner because of that," Kiper said. "I had (cornerbacks) Christian Gonzalez from Oregon or Devon Witherspoon, Illinois, going there (in mock drafts before free agency). Went away from that because of the signings and went to (Georgia defensive tackle Jalen) Carter. So you can say if it’s not going to be Carter and it’s going to be somebody else, is there another defensive lineman to take at that point? It’s too early for a linebacker. That could be wide open at that point."






The Lions have two first-round picks, their own at No. 18 and the Rams' pick at No. 6 from the Stafford trade, and five of the first 81 selections overall.



Carter is one of the top talents in this year's draft, but off-field concerns and a run on quarterbacks could put him in the crosshairs for the Lions at six. He showed up overweight to his pro day workout and could not finish drills, and he pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanors for charges related to an accident that killed one of his teammates and a Georgia football staffer.



Kiper said Carter is worth a roll of the dice at six for a general manager who's hit home runs in both his at-bats at the draft so far.





"Jalen Carter, do they take him at six to put him inside and have Aidan outside?" Kiper said. "What a combination that would be. This defense as you know has got to be better. It’s got to be. And these defensive backs that they added certainly will help dramatically and if they can get a defensive tackle like Jalen Carter at six than that would, obviously with Aidan’s development and Houston and Paschal and all the young guys they had, if they develop and they will continue to develop, that bodes well for this defense being vastly improved this next year."



Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

[edindetroit]

Detroit Lions signing back LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2023/...fl-free-agency

[JGSpartan]

Losing Board sucked but getting Reeves!-Maybin back is nice

[jaadam4]

Please say this is just for ST. Other than that, im not overly excited. Would rather have signed another LS

[dpatnod]

JRM is a MCDC guy. No doubt. Good for depth. Or at least decent. Dude's been a baller. I assume cheap.

[Cody_Russell]

Definitely special teams. Spot playing time on defense if the Lions suffer injuries at LB.

The core of Anzalone, Barnes, JRM, and Pittman survived from year 1 to year 3 of this regime. How interesting given the outside perception of LB play on the team… Obviously not an important position from their perspective. Let’s hope Rodrigo ascends in year 2.

[whatever_gong82]

An former Lion returns back to the Den:




Lions adding familiar face, bringing back LB Jalen Reeves-Maybin

Justin Rogers

The Detroit News


Allen Park — A year after leaving Detroit, the Lions are bringing back veteran linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin. The two sides agreed to contract terms Wednesday evening, according to the player's agent.



A fourth-round draft pick out of the University of Tennessee in 2017, Reeves-Maybin spent his first five seasons with the Lions, where he developed into one of the league's top special teams performers, leading the team in tackles with those units in 2021, and finishing fifth in the league in special teams stops two years earlier.

Reeves-Maybin also played his biggest defensive role his final season with the Lions, logging more than 600 defensive snaps as part of a timeshare with then-rookie Derrick Barnes after the team released veteran Jamie Collins in the early stages of the 2021 season.




That performance netted Reeves-Maybin a two-year, $7.5 million contract from the Texans last season, where he wasn't able to maintain the same type of role on defense, but finished with a career-high 390 special teams snaps while appearing in all 17 games. The team released him ahead of the second and final season of that contract in a cap-savings move earlier this month.





In Detroit, whether he's able to work his way back into the defensive rotation or not, Reeves-Maybin should help replace the special teams contributions of Chris Board, who signed with the New England Patriots last week.

Reeves-Maybin will also be reuniting with college teammates Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley, who signed both signed with the Lions this offseason as free agents.



jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @Justin_Rogers

[jaadam4]

JRM always looked like a 50 year old cast member from the motorcycle gang movie Biker Boyz. Plus he took his wife’s last name which you guys know I’m not a fan of. I don’t get this new age shit

[Futureshock]

Jalen Reeves-Maybin signs with Lions

Posted by Charean Williams on March 22, 2023, 10:38 PM EDT

Getty Images

Linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin has signed with the Lions, according to his agent, Brian McLaughlin.

The Texans cut Reeves-Maybin on March 16.

He spent five seasons in Detroit before joining the Texans on a two-year, $7.5 million deal a year ago. Reeves-Maybin played all 17 games last season, seeing action on 88 defensive snaps and 390 on special teams.

The Lions made Reeves-Maybin a fourth-round pick in 2017. Though he started only 14 games in five seasons, he was a core special teams player.

Reeves-Maybin was a team captain in 2021.

He will help replace Chris Board, who left for the Patriots after leading the Lions in special teams snaps in 2022.

[Cody_Russell]

Lions restructured Vaitai’s contract. Added another voided year to 2024. That led me down a rabbit hole about voided contracts and I learned:
- Several other NFL teams do the same thing.
- Holy shit. The Saints and their voided contracts. That explains much of their cap voodoo over the years. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-orle...ints/cap/2024/

So if people said the Lions had ~$21M in cap space a few days ago… that leaves the Lions with what, ~$28M? Something near that.

[froot loops]

Please say this is just for ST. Other than that, im not overly excited. Would rather have signed another LS

The Lions had like one of the highest rated special teams unit even with a funky K situation. Their coverage unit consistently flipped the field. This is a good signings, now they have to keep Woods.

[froot loops]

JRM always looked like a 50 year old cast member from the motorcycle gang movie Biker Boyz. Plus he took his wife’s last name which you guys know I’m not a fan of. I don’t get this new age shit

Why in the blue fucking hell do you care about last names? Get off Fox News.