The Detroit Lions aren’t typically a team which attracts much optimism, and once again that seems to be the case for 2021 as the offseason gets going.
With news of the Lions letting a few of their bigger stars in Kenny Golladay and Romeo Okwara walk to free agency as well as trading quarterback Matthew Stafford, some folks are beginning to feel as if the team is downright punting on future seasons in order to set up a potential tank.
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In fact, one analyst went so far as to make a very bold proclamation about the Lions. As Kevin Patra said on Twitter, he believes the team should be considered frontrunners for the first overall pick of the 2022 NFL Draft.
If this is the case, it should be music to ears of fans in Detroit. The Lions have a lot of needs, and have plenty of picks coming down the pipe after a mega-deal with the Los Angeles Rams. Detroit could be set up to own the next few drafts, and if they had the top pick in 2022, it could only work to accelerate the rebuild in a major way. It will be fascinating to see if the Lions are worse than the likes of the New York Jets, Houston Texans, and Jacksonville Jaguars.
It might be a sobering thought to consider the team one of the three worst in the league, but it could also be reality.
Lions Look ‘Less Talented’ on Paper for 2021
The Lions don’t seem to make winning big a major habit in any given year, but have they ever lacked this much talent on their roster? The answer, according to analyst Evan Silva, is no. As he wrote, while the Lions have underachieved on the field a ton lately, they’ve rarely had a team that looked this bad even on paper in terms of the actual nuts and bolts of the roster.
The Lions roster has plenty of holes at this point, but it’s also fair to remember that the team is incomplete at this point. The Lions will have a chance to add players in free agency and then they will tackle the 2021 NFL Draft. While a quick turnaround for the team may not be predicted, it’s always possible if the team has the right approach in free agency and the draft.
At this point, though, most see the roster as a spot with major holes which could prevent the team from contending at all in the short term.
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Lions Called ‘Lock’ for Miserable 2021 Season
Despite the fact that the team has not even kicked off free agency or done the draft, takes are sprouting up as it relates to how the team will look on the field. Fox Sports analyst Colin Cowherd thinks that the team is going to be miserable again even in spite of the changes they have made.
Once again, Cowherd is projecting the Lions will have a terrible season and stay in last place once 2021 ends. He rolled this projection out and didn’t offer much of a defense, other than he’d be likely to say the Lions are the Lions.
What say you? @ColinCowherd
It’s easy to predict the Lions will be bad, so not a surprise to see Cowherd writing the team off, however it is fair to see where he is coming from. The team is theoretically in a rebuild and finding momentum could be tough to do. Obviously, it isn’t going out on a limb to say the other teams predicted to finish last could be thought of as bad as well, so this isn’t exactly the boldest take.
Nevertheless, before the offseason is completed and the schedule is known, Cowherd is already writing the Lions off completely. As this commentary shows, he’s far from the only one that doesn’t believe in the Lions in 2021.
If the team were to score the top pick as a result, it might not be all bad, however.
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Analyst: Lions ‘Favorites’ to Land Top NFL Draft Pick in 2022