The national media has praised Brad Holmes, the general manager of the Detroit Lions, for the choices he made about players over the offseason.
Fans of the Lions have good reason to think the team will get better in 2023 and maybe even win a division title for the first time since 1993.
But there are also reasons to be gloomy. And these three reasons are:
#1. No backup QB with experience
Content Summery
If the Lions’ 2022 Pro Bowl quarterback Jared Goff gets hurt badly and can’t play for a while, Detroit will have to use an untested backup. Nat Sudfeld has been in the league for seven years and has tried to throw the ball 37 times.
The rest of the QB room is made up of two rookies. Hendon Hooker, who was taken in the third round of the draft, is still recovering from a torn ACL. Head coach Dan Campbell says that he won’t be able to play at all in 2023. Adrian Martinez, a QB who was not chosen but signed as a free agent, is competing for a spot on the practice squad. The gamble on him with bet on nfl games online, is whether or not he can live up to the expectations and demands of the NFL.
#2. Who will start at right guard?
Due to injuries, the post was up in the air for most of 2022. Halapoulivaati Vaitai is coming back to the team after being hurt last year. Since joining the Lions in 2020, he has not played a full season there.
Graham Glasgow, a guard who used to play for the Lions, signed a one-year deal with the Lions. After starting his job in Detroit in 2016, he worked there for three years. The former third-round pick just got over a shoulder injury that kept him out of action for parts of the last two seasons.
Colby Sorsdal, who is a rookie, will move from tackle to guard this season. He will have to learn a lot quickly. Detroit might need to bring in another experienced player to make the situation more stable.
#3. The defense was historically bad in 2022
The defense got better as the season wound down, which helped Detroit win eight of its last ten games. Still, the Lions had the worst defense as a whole. Detroit has added some young and experienced players to their reserve, but many of the players from their front seven in 2022 are still on the team.
In 2022, the run defense was ranked 29th in the NFL. On Christmas Eve, when they played the Lions, the Panthers ran for 320 yards, which was a team record. The loss kept Detroit from making it to the playoffs. The Lions will have a lot of problems if they don’t fix their problems against the run.