Lions Blog: Mid-Camp Roster Prediction

Being unable to watch much of the Lion's second preseason game against the New York Football Giants (Work will do that to me), I have elected to do a update to my 53 man roster prediction highlighting the changes as well as the reasons for them. Here is a link to the Pride of Detroit snap count article for preseason game 2 that I used for some information regarding player participation in Friday's game against the Giants.

Offense

Quarterbacks (2)
I made changes to this group. Rudock has played close enough to Matt Cassel at worst and much better at times in the preseason games (especially the 2nd one). Since he will be much cheaper than the veteran I say he is the one that stays to be the backup QB.

• Matthew Stafford
• Jake Rudock 

Running Backs (5)
Based on some observations from the preseason games, it seems like my prediction of the end of Abdullah and Riddick's time here in Detroit was premature. Both of these running backs have showed enough flashes of their best capabilities to justify giving them another year. Dwayne Washington has yet to play in a preseason game and seem likely to be cut. Nick Bellore has been removed from the RB list as the full back and moved back to the Linebacker group. He has been rarely used as a FB in the two preseason games and due to an Injury in the LB group (that I will cover later) I decided to move him back to his original position to make room for the roster to have the 5 running backs listed (He can still function as a Fullback when needed).

• Kerryon Johnson 
• LaGarrette Blount 
• Zach Zenner
• Ameer Abdullah 
• Theo Riddick 

Wide Receivers (4)
No Changes, despite the typically good preseason performance of Jace Billingsley.

• Marvin Jones
• Golden Tate
• Kenny Golladay 
• T'J' Jones

Tight Ends (3) 
No changes with the tight ends, but if Roberts does not show some progress, one Hakeem Valles could eat his lunch (and take his roster spot).

• Luke Wilson 
• Micheal Roberts 
• Levine Toilolo 

Offensive Line (10)
No changes in the Offensive line group but the backups need to be better than what they have shown.

• Taylor Decker 
• Graham Glasgow
• Frank Ragnow
• T.J. Lang
• Rick Wagner 
• Corey Robinson
• Joe Dahl
• Leo Kolamatangi 
• Kenny Wiggins 
• Tyrell Crosby 

Defense 

Defensive Line (9)
After my first roster prediction was posted, the Lions finally inked a deal with former Patriots Defensive Lineman Ricky Jean Francois, who I have put in place of Cornelius Washington who has seen his playtime drop in the preseason games. I have also switched Jeremiah Valoaga for Alex Barrett as he has seen much more playing time.

• A'Shawn Robinson 
• Da'Shawn Hand
• Sylvester Williams 
• Jeremiah Ledbetter
• Ricky Jean Francois 
• Ezekiel Ansah 
• Anthony Zetttel
• Kerry Hyder 
• Alex Barrett

Line Backers (7)
The Torn ACL injury in the preseason has claimed another Lion. This time it is Steve Longa who's season has come to and end and I have placed Nick Bellore back in the LB group. Mile Killebrew seems to be making a permanent move to Linebacker as he has been practicing there exclusively lately, hence I have made the corresponding prediction.

• Jarrad Davis 
• Devon Kennard
• Christian Jones 
• Jalen Reeves-Maybin 
• Nick Bellore 
• Johnathan Freeny 
• Miles Killebrew 

Corner Backs (6)
No changes for the Corner Back group, nor do I expect there will be.

• Darius Slay
• Qaundre Diggs
• Teez Tabor
• DeShawn Shead
• Nevin Lawson
• Jamal Agnew

Safeties  (4)
The Safety group loses Killebrew (who could still play the position if needed) but otherwise this group is unchanged (which is a good thing). 

• Glover Quinn 
• Tavon Wilson
• Tracy Walker 
• Charles Washington  

Special Teams (3)
Barring Injury, this should be the most unchanged group of all.

• Sam Martin (P)
• Matt Prater (K)
• Don Muhlbach (LS)

Conclusion

I feel better about this roster prediction with at least a couple of preseason games in the books. I will make one more just before the cut date (when the team has to get down to 53 players by) and there have been 2 more preseason games to go on. 

Lions Blog: Preseason Game 1 Reaction

At long last football is here, sort of. On Friday the Detroit Lions faced the Oakland Raiders  on the road in the first preseason game of 2018. I wanted to write down a few observations and reactions I had about thew game while they are still fresh in my mind. The team did lose this game 16-10 but in no way does that number tell a meaningful story.

Backup Quarterbacks Woes
Unlike in previous seasons where the first drive of the first preseason game is lead by the starting quarterback Mathew Stafford, this game feature none. Instead we were "treated" to the performances of the two competing for the backup quarterback job, Jake Rudock and Matt Cassel. I think it is safe to say that if Stafford goes down to injury for any period of time this season that the team will be in deep trouble for the duration. Despite the differences in experience levels, styles, and teams they played on, both quarterbacks exhibited the same problems, namely bad decision making and holding on to the ball too long and getting sacked as a result. Neither QB could reliably sustain a drive and both lacked the throwing strength and accuracy to be effective passers.   

Run Game Optimism
We saw some life in the run game, possibly for the first time in half a decade. Friday's preseason game against the Raiders feature good runs from Ameer Abdullah (who scored the only Lion's touchdown), Kerryon Johnson and LeGarrette Blount. Zach Zenner even had a nice run thrown in there as well. Johnson was obviously the highlight of the group and very much the back that everyone was looking forward to. He mostly played in the back half of the game against 3rd and 4th string defenses but he was used in both the run game and the passing game. Johnson even had a long run that was called back due to a  questionable offensive holding call. Even though there is little to base optimism for the run game on at this point (having only seen one preseason game) I never the less feel optimistic for this teams offense provided that its number 9 leading it (as opposed to 8 or 14).

Defensive 7 Chaos 
The front seven on the defense is clearly a work in progress. The defensive line was missing Ziggy to be fair but it seem unable to generate pass pressure or be effective in stopping the run game. I am not surprised at the front line's ineffectiveness as it received the leas attention of the team's needs in the off season but I was surprised by the performance of the linebackers. The seem to leave large gaps for running backs and tight ends to blaze through and always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do expect this group to get much better as the preseason  goes on and as we approach meaningful football as it has to for the team to be as competitive in the NFC as I expect.

Grains of Salt?
To sum things up:

• The team needs to keep looking for a quality backup quarterback as it clearly does not have one right now. 
• The Rung game is looking substantially improved at this very early point and I will have to update my 53 man roster prediction in the near future (which I was already planning on doing anyway).
• The new hybrid/flexible defense is a work in progress at this early point and needs a lot more time and effort to work its self out (as well as some additional talent).

There is not a single one of those points that are the least bit surprising to me. Many people have been urging caution about the seemingly improved run game but considering the resources that the team has invested to fix the situation over the last few years our expectations should be this high. When healthy we should have a very good offensive line and we have a wealth of talent in the backfield. I do think the defense will get better (and even in that one game, we only lost it by one possession) and it is hard enough to get a quality starting quarterback yet alone a decent back up. I choose to look at the positive aspect (the run game) of this games as I think it is more meaningful in the long run.