Lions News

[whatever_gong82]

[whatever_gong82]

[SnowMeiser]

Is it too soon to start singing "Another one bites the dust"?

[whatever_gong82]

Lions expect leading receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to return to lineup this week



Justin Rogers
The Detroit News


After a one-week absence due to an abdominal injury, the Detroit Lions are expecting to have leading receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown back in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

"I do feel pretty good about the possibility of him playing this week," Lions coach Dan Campbell said during a Tuesday morning interview with 97.1-FM. "I think it's certainly more than questionable. It's closer to probable at this point. We'll see how this week goes."

Since being drafted by the Lions in 2021, St. Brown has been a durable workhorse for the franchise, logging more than 800 snaps each of his first two seasons. Last Sunday marked just the second game he's missed, along with the team's Week 4 matchup with the Seahawks in 2022.


He had hoped to play through his abdominal injury last weekend, but after not practicing the week leading into the game, the team opted to exercise caution with their star pass catcher.

"Yeah, it's not easy to put Saint down, I mean, as you can imagine," Campbell said. "That's not something he really wants to hear, but it was the right thing to do."


Despite missing Sunday's game against Carolina, St. Brown still leads the Lions in receptions (26) and receiving yards (331). A Pro Bowler in 2022, his 106 receptions ranked seventh in the NFL and his 68 first-down grabs were fifth.


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

Is it too soon to start singing "Another one bites the dust"?

As long we don't get "Another one kicked our butts" as a result, just like in 1980.

[NewOrleansLion]

Is it too soon to start singing "Another one bites the dust"?

I blast “Another One Bites the Dust” after every touchdown in every game. I put on weight some years from far too infrequent dancing.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions film review: How Detroit used Jameson Williams, Jack Campbell in blowout win



Justin Rogers
The Detroit News


Allen Park — The Detroit Lions are good, potentially very good. The team has won three consecutive games by double digits and established a two-game lead in the division a little more than a month into the season, while holding an early tiebreaker over the second-place Packers by virtue of a head-to-head win at Lambeau late last month.

The Lions are succeeding on both sides of the ball. They're scoring 29.6 points per game, up 3.0 from a year ago, when they were a top-five unit. And the defense has been formidable, showing marked improvement across the board, particularly against the run.


But here's the kicker, they could be better. While there's always a generic room for improvement in football, the Lions have a pair of young players primed for big roles who have yet to come into their own: Wide receiver Jameson Williams and linebacker Jack Campbell.

The lacking impact from both is understandable. Williams, who missed most of his rookie season while rehabbing his way back from a torn ACL, came off a four-game suspension for violating the NFL's gambling policy to make his debut last Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. And Campbell is a rookie, still adjusting to the size, strength and speed of this level, all while being asked to play some different assignments than he did at Iowa.


First-round draft picks a year apart, the Lions are counting on both to have a significant role in the franchise's future. The sooner they can flatten their respective learning curves and increase their contributions, the more dynamic this team can become as it continues its march toward a first division title in three decades.

For this week's film review, we're going to look at how the Lions used Williams and Campbell against the Panthers, seeking hints at what those future contributions could look like.


Let's start with Williams, the speedster with unmatched big-play potential on Detroit's roster.

This is speculative, but I imagine Williams saw more work than the Lions originally anticipated with Amon-Ra St. Brown sidelined for this contest with an abdominal injury. The returning Williams ended up being on the field for nearly half of Detroit's 60 offensive snaps.


Williams didn't get the start, but was on the field for Detroit's second and third offensive play, providing key blocks, which is something rarely discussed with his skill set.

On the first, the cornerback lined across from Williams was coming on a blitz, but got jarred off his path by the receiver. The play resulted in a 16-yard completion to Marvin Jones.


With the second, Williams' block has already been well-publicized. He showed impressive downfield effort working against 205-pound safety Sam Franklin Jr., and when David Montgomery cut his run outside, Williams provided the knockdown seal that sprung the 42-yard scoring romp.


Overall, Williams' blocking was hit and miss, which is hardly unexpected. He whiffed when he tried to slow up edge defender Yetur Gross-Matos, contributing to a run play being blown up in the backfield. But four plays later, Williams had another nice downfield effort that helped running back Craig Reynolds gain 19 yards down the to the 5-yard line, eventually leading to a Lions touchdown.


We highlight it because it's part of the job, but we also acknowledge few of you care about Williams as a blocker. On plays where he didn't block, he obviously didn't have much production, but you could still get a feel for his potential impact.

Let's start with his three targets, which resulted in two catches for two yards. Obviously, that's nothing to write home about. To make matters worse, he dropped the first pass his way.


Williams' hands remain a concern. He also put multiple balls on the ground during warmups, which is notable because it's rare. With the in-game drop, he ran a great route, which initially looked like an out pattern from the left slot, before he slammed on the brakes and reversed direction, leaving the coverage in the dust.

The throw was on the money, hitting Williams in stride, yet he couldn't hang on. Yes, there was a middle-field defender who made a good read and was bearing down on the receiver, but it wasn't going to be an instant hit. Williams had time to make a football move and you could see his thought process when he executed a planned shoulder shimmy after the drop.


Williams caught his next two targets, a pair of short, nearly lateral throws. On the first of the two, he was dumped immediately for a loss of 2 yards after Jones appeared to miss a block on the tackling defender.

On the final reception, Williams was inches away from a patented big play. Relying on a reach block from tight end Sam LaPorta, Williams was tripped up by the diving Panthers player after 4 yards, leaving a lot of open field in front of him. That's painful, knowing he has the speed to possibly beat the angles of the remaining defenders in pursuit.


With both the drop and inability to make the tackler miss, it's worth asking whether Williams is thinking too much about his second move and not focusing enough on accomplishing the first action that could lead to a successful play.

As for the remainder of the performance, Williams worked both outside and from the slot, often running routes to the deeper parts of the field. Sometimes, that was to draw attention away from the primary read, like back-to-back screen attempts for Montgomery. Other times, when he was an option, the Panthers had him covered up well with their preferred Cover-3 defensive scheme.


The only time it appeared quarterback Jared Goff missed Williams was on a failed fourth-and-2 play in the opening half. Williams and rookie Antoine Green ran intersecting deep crossing patterns and both appeared to be open, with Williams raising his hand for the ball as he came through the middle of the field.

Maybe it wasn't the design of the play, something we must always consider, but the QB did peek that direction before forcing the ball to a well-covered Montgomery in the flat.


Obviously, teams will always be wary of Williams' speed, however the Lions intend to get him the ball. Beyond the aforementioned screen attempts, the team also put Williams in motion and feigned an end around, which drew a defender out of the box and allowed Montgomery to gain 8 yards on a handoff.

So yes, there's promise here. Obviously, everything starts with Williams' hands, which, as noted, might just require him to slow things down mentally. The defender isn't always going to trip him up, the blocks aren't always going to be blown, and Goff is going to see him running free more often than not, since the QB clearly looked for the deep ball on more than one occasion in this contest.

continued..

[whatever_gong82]

It's maybe not what people want to here, but patience is going to be required.

Now let's shift to Campbell, who continues to be in a rotation with Derrick Barnes.

In terms of play-time percentage, the rookie linebacker was down from the previous two games, with his 32 defensive snaps representing 45.1% of Detroit's total.


Like Williams, Campbell didn't get the start, but entered the game early, on the team's fifth defensive play. During that opening series, we saw him line up on the edge both of his reps, which had been his primary usage the previous two games, following injuries to James Houston and Josh Paschal.

On those two snaps, Campbell was ineffective, getting stonewalled by offensive tackle Taylor Moton twice. Given Campbell's size, strength and rare athleticism, it's not surprising the Lions are trying to make him a viable, situational edge rusher, but his lack of length and unrefined set of rush moves is going to limit his ability to affect the pocket when working against fundamentally sound offensive linemen.


Maybe the Lions recognized that it was going to be an issue in this game, because they adjusted and had Campbell playing off ball the remainder of the contest. Still, that didn't mean they stopped using him as part of the pass rush, blitzing him several times.

Long-term, that's probably a better use of his skill set. He flashed the ability to be disruptive as a blitzer throughout the offseason, when he could attack gaps a few yards off the line of scrimmage. He didn't have much luck with his limited opportunities in this matchup, but did come free on a well-run stunt, where defensive tackle Alim McNeill collapsed the interior of Carolina's line to create a lane. Oddly, Campbell pulled up, despite having a clear path to quarterback Bryce Young, but defensive end Romeo Okwara got home, forcing an intentional grounding on the snap.


In coverage, I thought Campbell did a nice job. He's getting quicker at processing play fakes and getting to his depth in zone coverage, and he had an impressive man-to-man rep, blanketing tight end Hayden Hurst on a wheel route from the left slot.

Campbell did give up a touchdown catch, but the Panthers put him in an impossible situation on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Lined up on the edge, he initially took on a block from tight end Tommy Tremble. He ultimately released into the end zone on a delayed route and Campbell got caught between trying to defend that and stopping Young from running around the edge for the equally easy score.


As a run defender, Campbell continues to be solid, but he did get sniped by Moton, never seeing the tackle climb to the second level to knock him out of his gap. That resulted in an 8-yard run.


Asked about Campbell this week, Lions coach Dan Campbell said the rookie is earning more playing time, noting his making steady improvement and quiet production are deserving of more opportunities. A lot of that does show up on tape, and he should be able to iron out some of his minor awareness and processing issues simply by banking more reps.


The biggest, near-future leap could come as a pass rusher. Again, it wasn't something he did much at Iowa, either off the edge or as an off-ball blitzer. With more experience, plus his elite athleticism, there's little reason he shouldn't be able to have an impact similar to what Jarrad Davis accomplished for the Lions in 2018, when he racked up 6.0 sacks.


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

[whatever_gong82]

Fun, flair and physicality are fueling Detroit Lions' postseason dreams



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press



Jared Goff looked at the Detroit Lions sideline and smiled as offensive coordinator Ben Johnson relayed a play call late in Sunday’s first half.


The Lions were comfortably ahead by two touchdowns at the time, had just forced their second Carolina Panthers turnover in as many defensive snaps, and Goff and the offense were on the plus side of the field looking to put the Panthers away.

Johnson had a way to do it on his call sheet — a reverse flea flicker to Sam LaPorta — and dialed it up.


Goff took a snap under center from Frank Ragnow, tossed the ball right to David Montgomery, who handed it to Kalif Raymond, who pitched it back to Goff as LaPorta snuck out the front side of the formation just as Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn realized what was going on.

LaPorta was sprinting past Chinn down the sideline before Chinn could get any depth in his drop, and 31 yards later the rookie tight end was in the end zone celebrating his second touchdown of the game.


“We’re trying to (surprise) them,” Goff said. “It’s good. We ran it against Green Bay. I can’t remember if it was last year or two years ago and it was the same thing. It’s just to Sam, wide open and it works.”



Goff had a flea-flicker touchdown pass to Jameson Williams called back by penalty against the Green Bay Packers last season, and he hit another flea-flicker touchdown to Kalif Raymond against the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year.

The Lions are hardly the only NFL team with an affinity for backyard football; San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle scored a touchdown on the same reverse flea-flicker Sunday night.


But 22 games into Johnson’s tenure as offensive coordinator, Sunday’s game and LaPorta’s touchdown are reminders of just how lucky the Lions are to have his creative genius on their sideline.

Along with the flea flicker, the Lions converted a third-and-6 Sunday on a direct snap to Montgomery that went through Goff’s legs and found innovative ways to get the ball in their playmakers’ hands on screens (by splitting Montgomery wide and motioning him towards a phalanx of blocking receivers) and short passes to the flat (with timely use of tempo that caught the Panthers off guard).


The Lions are deceptively different on offense, using jet motions and personnel tweaks to put a new twist on old plays. They scored a season-high 42 points Sunday while navigating a list of injuries that would have been catastrophic to most other teams; leading receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown missed the game with an abdominal injury, and rookie running back Jahmyr Gibbs pulled his hamstring late in practice Friday.



And they’ve manufactured the right mix of fun, flair and fundamentally-sound football to become the hottest ticket in the NFL.

“I’ve learned to never be surprised by things that we’re going to put in the game plan,” left tackle Taylor Decker said. “We (had the snap between the legs), we had the pitchback to Jared for the touchdown to Sam. I mean, we know we’re going to have plays like that and (Ben) says, ‘I’m going to call them.’ Those plays are going to get called because if you catch a defense kind of off guard or you can steal some yardage, get a chunk play, maybe a touchdown off a turnover, let’s throw this thing, those are huge.”


Decker said Johnson is “always looking to be on the cutting edge” of new concepts that give the Lions a leg up offensively, and that’s only one of the qualities that have endeared him to his players and will make him the hottest coaching commodity in the NFL this winter.



“I just have a lot of respect for him because he has gained the trust of his players,” Decker said. “Like, whatever he asks us to do, we’re going to go do it and we know that he’s going to put us in the positions to succeed. Even if it’s a hard job and if you have the hard job and you execute it, it’s going to help everybody else around you so it’s just you’re doing it for your teammates. Yeah, the Xs and Os, I could get into all that. I mean, he’s obviously brilliant at that, but just the way he interacts with players, I think that’s one of his strongest characteristics.”

The Lions are tied with the Dallas Cowboys as the fifth highest-scoring team in the NFL since the start of the 2022 season, behind only perennial Super Bowl contenders the Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills Philadelphia Eagles and 49ers.

Johnson has pushed the right buttons for that to happen, obviously, but he’s not the only reason for the Lions’ offensive success.



Brad Holmes has assembled the right mix of players, who are the ones executing on the field, and Dan Campbell has made sure that fun and physicality are equal parts of the Lions’ philosophy.

“We’ll always be known, in my opinion, as a tough team,” Campbell said Monday. “We should be a tough, physical team, offense, defense, special teams, but if you’re just tough and you’re just physical and you have no creativity, you’re not going to do anything with it. You’ll bang away, but I think that gives you just a little bit of an edge.”




As Campbell spoke about players having “a good time” being able “to do something a little bit out of the norm” and the eye candy the Lions confuse opponents with on offense, he raised his left hand to offer an imaginary piece of it then brought his right across in a violent slapping motion.

“That’s the old, ‘Hey look here,’” he said.

“I think our guys have come used to that and that’s what I want is that, look, if we’re going to go for it on fourth, nobody’s batting an eye,” Campbell said. “There’s not pressure, this is part of what we do. And this is just another play for us to convert. And when we dial up some of the plays that we dial up, a little bit of the smoke-and-mirror players, our guys know, we’ve repped them enough to where they figure it out. You give them multiple looks, you just, you keep repping it and they’ve done it enough to where they’ll make it right. ... Our guys just, they understand. And you feel very confident about it.”



At 4-1, the Lions are brimming with confidence and starting to look a lot like another one of the NFL’s best teams.

The 49ers with Kyle Shanahan are the class of the league right now, with an overpowering defense and one of the very few offenses that combines physicality and sleight of hand as well as the Lions.



They can run the ball on anyone and with anyone, and they use their rushing attack to set up one of the league’s most diverse passing games.

The 49ers destroyed the Cowboys, 42-10, Sunday in the NFL’s showcase game, and Campbell admitted Monday he tuned in and let his mind wander about what could be.

The Lions and 49ers don’t play in the regular season, and if they meet in the playoffs it likely won’t be until the division or conference championship round. That’s a long way off, but the way the Lions are playing, it’s starting to feel close enough to touch.

“For me, it puts everything in perspective,” Campbell said of the game. “Look, we got a long way to go, it’s a long season, we got Tampa coming up (this week). But when you watch that, man, you just — you see what it is. You see what it is, and so I think it gives you great perspective. It gave me great perspective watching it.”


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


Next up: Buccaneers


Matchup: Lions (4-1) at Tampa Bay (3-1).

Kickoff: 4:25 p.m. Sunday; Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida.

TV/radio: Fox; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).

Line: Lions by 3.

[whatever_gong82]

Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown has 'pretty good' chance to play vs. Tampa Bay this week



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press


The Detroit Lions are optimistic that leading receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will return to action Sunday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after a one-game absence due to an abdominal injury.

“I feel pretty good about the possibility of him playing this week,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said in his weekly Tuesday morning interview on 97.1-WXYT FM. “I think it's certainly more than questionable, I think it's closer to probable at this point. We'll see how this week goes.”

St. Brown sat out the Lions’ 42-24 win over the Carolina Panthers last week with an injury he sustained in the Lions’ Week 4 win over the Green Bay Packers.


The third-year receiver did not practice last week, but ran full-speed in workouts with trainers as part of the team’s rehab group during portions of practice open to the media.


Campbell said the Lions exercised caution with St. Brown to ensure his injury did not turn into a longer-term issue.

St. Brown leads the Lions with 26 catches and 331 receiving yards and is coming off a Pro Bowl season.

"It’s not easy to put Saint down, as you can imagine,” Campbell said. “That's not something that he really wants to hear but it was the right thing to do.”


The Lions (4-1) lead the NFC North by two games and play three of their next four against teams with .500 or better records. The Buccaneers (3-1) are in first place in the NFC South.

In St. Brown’s absence last week, eight different players caught passes and Jared Goff threw touchdowns to Sam LaPorta (two) and Josh Reynolds.


LaPorta is second on the team and leads all rookie tight ends with 25 catches for 289 yards, while Reynolds has 16 catches for 291 yards and three touchdowns. Campbell called Reynolds, who leads the Lions at 18.2 yards per catch, “as trustworthy a player as we have on this team.”


“I see a guy that is very reliable, very dependable,” Campbell said. “He’s tough. I mean, this guy’s playing through stuff, too, now. I think it goes unnoticed at times, but he shows up, he gives us what he can during the week and then rolls out there on gameday and he just makes plays for us. And his body language when it comes to the pass game as to when it’s time to make breaks, where he’s going to be, yeah, he’s going to be there, he and Goff are, man they’re in an unbelievable synch together.”


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

[whatever_gong82]

NFL power rankings: Detroit Lions are the safest bet to win their division in football



Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press


There’s way too much football left to say anything in the NFL is locked up at this point, but five weeks into the season, three of the NFC’s four division races seem pretty cut and dry.

The San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles are the NFL’s last unbeatens and each possess at least a 1½-game lead in their divisions. Both the NFC East and NFC West have other top playoff contenders — the Dallas Cowboys in the East and Seattle Seahawks in the West — but the sheer dominance the Eagles and especially the 49ers have shown on the way to 5-0 makes it feel like only injuries will get in their way of winning division crowns.

As for the division lead that feels most in the bag in mid-October, that belongs to your Detroit Lions.


The Lions (4-1) have won three straight games by double digits, have the sixth-best net point differential in the NFL (plus-41) and sit comfortably atop the NFC North with a two-game lead that might as well be the Grand Canyon.


The NFC North is the only division in football with three sub-.500 teams and the Lions already have destroyed the only other division team with more than one win, the Green Bay Packers (2-3).

The Chicago Bears got their first win last week but are still one of the most dysfunctional teams in the league, and the Minnesota Vikings have a favorable upcoming schedule after a tough start but just lost the game’s best receiver, Justin Jefferson, for at least the next four weeks to a hamstring injury.


Neither the Packers nor Bears seem like much of a threat to the Lions, given their quarterback situations. And the Lions and Vikings don’t play until they meet twice in a three-week stretch to close the year. Jefferson should be back by then, but if the Vikings don’t get wins soon, they’re liable to see a bunch of other players tap out.

For the record, I do expect the Vikings to claw their way back into playoff contention. They have just five games left against teams with winning records (including two against the Lions) and face the Bears (twice), Packers and Denver Broncos, among others, before December.


Crazier things have happened in the NFL, but if you’re a Lions fan you should keep the weekend of Jan. 13 open because there’s a pretty good chance the team will be hosting its first playoff game in 30 years.



This week’s NFL power rankings


1. San Francisco 49ers (5-0)

2. Philadelphia Eagles (5-0)

3. Kansas City Chiefs (4-1)

4. Miami Dolphins (4-1)


5. Detroit Lions (4-1)

6. Buffalo Bills (3-2)

7. Dallas Cowboys (3-2)

8. Seattle Seahawks (3-1)

9. Jacksonville Jaguars (3-2)

10. Baltimore Ravens (3-2)



11. Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2)

12. Los Angeles Chargers (2-2)

13. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-1)

14. Cleveland Browns (2-2)

15. Cincinnati Bengals (2-3)

16. Indianapolis Colts (3-2)


17. New Orleans Saints (3-2)

18. Atlanta Falcons (3-2)

19. Houston Texans (2-3)

20. Tennessee Titans (2-3)



21. Los Angeles Rams (2-3)

22. Las Vegas Raiders (2-3)

23. Minnesota Vikings (1-4)

24. Green Bay Packers (2-3)

25. New York Jets (2-3)



26. Washington Commanders (2-3)

27. New York Giants (1-4)

28. New England Patriots (1-4)

29. Arizona Cardinals (1-4)

30. Denver Broncos (1-4)

31. Chicago Bears (1-4)

32. Carolina Panthers (0-5)


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

[Iron Lion]

It's maybe not what people want to here, but patience is going to be required.

Now let's shift to Campbell, who continues to be in a rotation with Derrick Barnes.

In terms of play-time percentage, the rookie linebacker was down from the previous two games, with his 32 defensive snaps representing 45.1% of Detroit's total.


Like Williams, Campbell didn't get the start, but entered the game early, on the team's fifth defensive play. During that opening series, we saw him line up on the edge both of his reps, which had been his primary usage the previous two games, following injuries to James Houston and Josh Paschal.

On those two snaps, Campbell was ineffective, getting stonewalled by offensive tackle Taylor Moton twice. Given Campbell's size, strength and rare athleticism, it's not surprising the Lions are trying to make him a viable, situational edge rusher, but his lack of length and unrefined set of rush moves is going to limit his ability to affect the pocket when working against fundamentally sound offensive linemen.


Maybe the Lions recognized that it was going to be an issue in this game, because they adjusted and had Campbell playing off ball the remainder of the contest. Still, that didn't mean they stopped using him as part of the pass rush, blitzing him several times.

Long-term, that's probably a better use of his skill set. He flashed the ability to be disruptive as a blitzer throughout the offseason, when he could attack gaps a few yards off the line of scrimmage. He didn't have much luck with his limited opportunities in this matchup, but did come free on a well-run stunt, where defensive tackle Alim McNeill collapsed the interior of Carolina's line to create a lane. Oddly, Campbell pulled up, despite having a clear path to quarterback Bryce Young, but defensive end Romeo Okwara got home, forcing an intentional grounding on the snap.


In coverage, I thought Campbell did a nice job. He's getting quicker at processing play fakes and getting to his depth in zone coverage, and he had an impressive man-to-man rep, blanketing tight end Hayden Hurst on a wheel route from the left slot.

Campbell did give up a touchdown catch, but the Panthers put him in an impossible situation on third-and-goal from the 1-yard line. Lined up on the edge, he initially took on a block from tight end Tommy Tremble. He ultimately released into the end zone on a delayed route and Campbell got caught between trying to defend that and stopping Young from running around the edge for the equally easy score.


As a run defender, Campbell continues to be solid, but he did get sniped by Moton, never seeing the tackle climb to the second level to knock him out of his gap. That resulted in an 8-yard run.


Asked about Campbell this week, Lions coach Dan Campbell said the rookie is earning more playing time, noting his making steady improvement and quiet production are deserving of more opportunities. A lot of that does show up on tape, and he should be able to iron out some of his minor awareness and processing issues simply by banking more reps.


The biggest, near-future leap could come as a pass rusher. Again, it wasn't something he did much at Iowa, either off the edge or as an off-ball blitzer. With more experience, plus his elite athleticism, there's little reason he shouldn't be able to have an impact similar to what Jarrad Davis accomplished for the Lions in 2018, when he racked up 6.0 sacks.


jdrogers@detroitnews.com

Twitter/X: @Justin_Rogers

Do you have the link for that article? A guy who gets paid to "right" mixes up "here" and "hear."

[whatever_gong82]

Do you have the link for that article? A guy who gets paid to "right" mixes up "here" and "hear."

It's in my post above the one you've quoted.

[ghandi]

"Williams' hands remain a concern. He also put multiple balls on the ground during warmups, which is notable because it's rare."

He didnt have hands issues in college did he? Or was the sample size too small? I really dont think Brad H would have traded three picks to acquire a guy with average hands at best.....So is this just an issue he has developed since being drafted?

[El Axe]

To save everyone a click:

Anthony Averett on wikipedia

4th round pick of the Ravens out of Alabama back in 2018. He's been on IR every season, 5 times in 4 seasons

Seems to have some talent/ability, but can't stay on the field at all