Lions News

[El Axe]

I haven't posted the computer rankings lately. Even when the Lions were playing better they were consistently ranked around #9.

Sagarin: Lions #9
Massey: Lions #7
ELO: Lions #9

I think that's what the team is this year. At one point, I hoped that if we got the #1 seed or the right matchup, we could actually make it all the way. At this point, the #1 seed is out of reach. ESPN has it as a 4% chance. Too many unlikely things have to go right for that to happen.

Eagles and 49ers are fundamentally better this season. At this point, I'd be disappointed if we didn't win the division and a playoff game, but anything above that would be fantastic and unexpected.

[-Deborah-]

What's going on with Brodric Martin?

• MIKE PAYTON
• UPDATED:
  1 HOUR AGO
  ORIGINAL:
  DEC 4, 2023

Here's something I never thought I would say in my entire life. I think Detroit Lions fans are a little spoiled with draft picks. Since Brad Holmes became the general manager for the Lions he's made 23 draft picks. Most of those picks have either become starters or have become players that get a significant amount of playing time.

So it's understandable that after a while, you become accustomed to that just being the status quo and anything other than that is a failure. But that's just not how this all works. Back in April when I was still with Pride of Detroit, I wrote about how fans should temper their expectations of draft picks going forward due to the Lions being a good team now.

The general idea behind that piece was that since the Lions are good now, they have the opportunity to both draft players that can make an impact right away and draft players that they can take their time with and won't have to shove out onto the field right away like they did in 2021 and 2022.

Obviously they drafted the good players. Sam LaPorta is having one of the greatest rookie tight end seasons in NFL history, Jahmyr Gibbs is a weapon, Brian Branch is already a legit nickel corner in the NFL and Jack Campbell is pretty good when he plays his own position. They also showed that they can draft players they want to take their time with.

Brodric Martin is that guy. The Lions traded up to the third-round to drafted Martin out of Western Kentucky. I totally understand how that could register in your head that he's a secret superstar and that since he got picked so high and traded up for, the only possible outcome is that he starts and/or plays every game. That's not happening.

It's not because he's a draft bust. That's not what is happening here. It's because Martin is a very raw project with a pretty high ceiling and he's just not ready yet.

Martin has all the stuff you're looking for in a body and athleticism profile. He's 6-foot-5 and 331 pounds. He's a mountain of a man, but doesn't move like one. His quick twitch ability and is hands are what really show up on tape.

He also eats up space really well and is able to open up gaps for rushers.

The thing is that he's just not ready to play the NFL game every week and that's ok because, like I've been saying for a while now, this team is not a finished product yet. Just becasue they're 9-3 and things are going well this year, that doesn't mean this is the end point and it's do or die this year. The build continues for this team and the expectation is that they'll be even better next year.

Along with that build goes the build of Brodric Martin. He should be ready to contribute a lot more in 2024 and you'll start to see the play from him that got him picked so high. But right now, he's really raw and the Lions have always know that.

I know that some fans might bring up the idea that it's ok to be critical of Brad Holmes on some things and they're right. Levi Onwuzurkie, James Mitchell and Jermar Jefferson haven't worked out very well during their time here. The Lions also didn't do enough to generate a pass rush this offseason. Martin is just not something to criticize because this has always been the thing with him. He's a project and the upside is worth the time it will take.

[Iron Lion]

And we thought we were soooooo deep at edge in the pre-C

[jaadam4]

Cominski needs the club hand back. That made him awesome...lol

lol

[jaadam4]

And we thought we were soooooo deep at edge in the pre-C

It sure seemed like it. I wonder if Holmes wants a do over with Chase Young

[Iron Lion]

Divisional tiebreakers are

1. Head-to-head
2. Divisional record
3. Record vs common opponents

These rules are the same whether it's a 2- or 3-way tie.

So assuming we get to step 3 with GB and/or MIN, we have a +2 game advantage over GB in common games and +3 over MIN. Our only remaining common game with them (not counting divisional games) is vs DEN, and DEN has already beaten both of them. MIN only has 1 common game with us left, so MIN cannot catch us if tiebreakers come down to common games. GB has CAR and TB yet to play, so if they win both of those -and- we lose to DEN, then we are even with GB in common games. This would push us down to step 4 vs GB, which is record vs NFC. Instead, I just track the record vs AFC. GB is done with the AFC, they are 2-3. We are currently 3-1 vs AFC. If we beat DEN, we will already edge out GB in common games and this won't matter. If we lose to DEN, then GB will beat us in the 4th tiebreaker and win the division because their worse record vs AFC means their record vs NFC will be better than ours.

So essentially this means that the Cowboys game is the least important game remaining on the schedule, assuming they don't beat out Philly and take the division.

Quiz on Friday people.

[-Deborah-]

Nice.

But Friday quizzes are bullshit.

[-Deborah-]

[Mainevent]

2nd street FA they had to pick up because their 3rd round pick is such a project they don't trust him to play snaps.

[froot loops]

McNeil to the IR

[froot loops]

2nd street FA they had to pick up because their 3rd round pick is such a project they don't trust him to play snaps.

I understand the frustration with Martin, but this new signing is in response to McNeil's injury. Martin will never play the 3.

[Cody_Russell]

McNeil to the IR

Damn, that’s unfortunate for McNeill.
My AAL was playing well this season.

It’s going to hurt the defense a little during this 4 week stretch. Lions still need to close out the NFC North race. At the same time, it sounds like McNeill will be back for the playoffs and that’s something positive about the situation. It gives someone else an opportunity to step up and hopefully that happens. Maybe not 🤷♂️.

[Lionsfan123]

People really are freaking out over this but they were already not getting little to no pressure anyway so next man up. Throw Buggs in there and see what he can do because now we go have to lean on guys like Levi and Pascal that we drafted them for because now we REALLY go need them to come through because no McNeil does hurt a already bad defense.

We’re close to getting Gardener back that’s definitely going to help the secondary. For the defense we go have to weather the storm and hope we get guys like Houston back.

[froot loops]

Who was really freaking out about it? The news just broke.

[wcfwtf]

Stole my comment. Their D line has been underperforming so may not even be noticeable