Getty Tyrell Williams runs over a Bills player after a catch in the preseason.
The Detroit Lions have seen plenty of changes this offseason, and one of the spots most impacted by all the moves has been the team’s offense.
Detroit has a new starting quarterback to break in, has a brand new trio of unproven wideouts and has a running game which figures to be good, but is also very young and unproven. Conventional wisdom would say that would add up to the experts being very unimpressed with the team’s weaponry.
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Interestingly enough, though, that might not be the case. Recently, NFL.com writer Nick Shook ranked all the triplets in the league in terms of quarterback, wideout and running back. The Lions weren’t dead last at all, and were far from it. Detroit placed 24th on Shook’s list, which was actually quite respectable all things considered.
As Shook wrote, he doesn’t think there is a huge drop from Matthew Stafford to Jared Goff, and the bigger question might be weaponry at both of the skill spots considering how unproven Tyrell Williams is and questions about the run game will play out. Even such, Goff could help that along in Shook’s opinion.
In an offseason where many have assumed the Lions to be the worst of the worst, it’s interesting to see someone say that the team might not be as awful as many expect.
Dan Orlovsky Thinks Lions Offense Can Be Better Than Projected
Big changes have played out that have left the roster gutted and unnoticeable from recent seasons, but that doesn’t mean it should be all doom and gloom in the Motor City ahead of a new year, which is an opinion shared by a few others nationally.
Earlier this summer on a July 31 episode of NFL Live on ESPN, former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky went out on a limb and predicted that the team could have a chance to be much better than many of the experts have been predicting this offseason.
“I think the Lions, specifically offensively, will be way, way better than people are giving them credit for. I think their offensive line will be a top-five, top-seven unit in the NFL. I think they have an absolute emerging Alvin Kamara type of star in D’Andre Swift out of Georgia, I think T.J. Hockenson is on the verge of being a super-stud at the tight end position. Listen, their skill-position players aren’t great notoriety-wise. Tyrell Williams, Breshad Perriman, Quintez Cephus. I get that, but they’re going to play better than their name kind of projects them to because of that offensive line. So, I just think their offense is going to be way, way better than people think and I think that Jared Goff is going to surprise some people,” Orlovsky said.
Perriman is now gone having been a part of the team’s final roster cuts, but Orlovsky’s point at the time still stands thanks to the other unheralded options the Lions have recently added to catch the ball.
Seeing the Lions offense put up some numbers that surprise would be interesting, and could certainly help the Lions have a more abrupt turnaround under Dan Campbell and their new staff than many would expect. The Detroit offense has never lacked for explosion, but they have lacked consistency through the years. Seeing some of their weapons help them achieve this would be a notable step in the right direction.
Offense Sees Lions’ Biggest Roster Questions
Obviously, the spots that folks will be most concerned about on the Detroit offense revolve around the wideout position as well as the quarterback spot due to all of the changes. The Lions don’t have a star at receiver, but a bunch of young players who can step up and become solid contributors in time. Jared Goff is seen by some as damaged goods at quarterback, and has a lot to prove. Most believe the Lions will have a solid offensive line as well as a running game they can finally depend on for 2021, but the questions elsewhere figure to be issues until the Lions prove on the field
Detroit’s offense was a middle-of-the-pack team in 2020 averaging just over 350 yards per-game while scoring just 377 points. Finding ways to improve on these metrics could be difficult, but it’s clear the team might have nowhere to go but up and could be better than many think in 2021.
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