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Patience doesn’t seem to be the name of the game for the Detroit Lions. We’ve been nine months into the Brad Holmes / Dan Campbell experiment, and the best Lions guys have shown that they won’t be the guys who are loyal to everyone. They have no intention of supporting Bob Quinn’s mistakes or theirs for that matter. You don’t need to look any further than the fates of Jahlani Tavai and Breshad Perriman for any evidence.
Recently, the Lions have shown that the end of training camp isn’t the end of trimming for this team. Just a few weeks ago, the Lions attempted to trade linebacker Jamie Collins before finally releasing him despite accumulating more dead money on the league’s biggest pile of dead money.
They are still not finished. While they haven’t made any meaningful moves, their recent comments tell a story that the Lions may be gearing up to put guys on the bench and replace them.
Everything is right in a reconstruction. There will likely be a lot more excused players on this team over the next few years. Almost no one is safe.
But who is really safe? Who will be fully involved in this reconstruction? Who will be on this team in three years? We have selected 10 players who we can say, for now, are not going anywhere.
TJ Hockenson
Number one with a ball is the tight end of the Lions’ Pro Bowl. Hockenson has shown that he keeps getting better. He’s had two tough last games, but the former eighth overall pick is arguably the Lions’ biggest star right now. The Lions will likely end up making him the highest-paid tight end in the NFL before long. There’s no way they’re going to let this guy out of their sight.
By André Swift
Swift hasn’t fully figured it out yet. There are times he looks like an absolute stallion like he did against the Ravens, and then there are times when you can barely tell he’s there like he did against the Bears. Chances are, Swift has a lot more stud moments than missed moments in action. Because of this, there’s no way the Lions will be moving away from this guy anytime soon.
Frank ragnow
He’s the best cross in the league, in my opinion. He consistently scores higher than anyone on the Lions offensive line on Pro Football Focus and you just don’t leave a guy like that. He’ll be the highest-paid center in the league before you even know it. He deserves every penny.
Penei Sewell
There was certainly growing pains. It has been trending downward lately. He scored 46.3 against the Bears. It’s bad enough, but you can’t ignore his performance against Nick Bosa and the 49ers. Remember, he’s only 20 at this point. This guy has a lot of career left, and he immediately finds himself in the deep end, forced to switch from left to right. I think he will show enough of that by the end of the season to be comfortable with him for a long time.
Taylor Decker
Decker is one of the best left tackles in the NFL. He will show it again as soon as he plays a soccer game this season. He’s like the carpet in “The Big Lebowski”. It really ties it all together. He’s a left tackle and he will remain the Lions left tackle despite all those calls for him to switch to the right tackle after Sewell’s first success.
Alim McNeill
McNeill keeps getting better. Again, with the rookies there are growing pains, but McNeill has shown some flashes of a player that can be huge for the Lions going forward. Head coach Dan Campbell said McNeill had his career best game against the Bears, and PFF agreed, giving him an excellent 76.9. He’s probably going to have more games like this in the future. His case for being a big part of defense is only reinforced by the fact that guys like defensive line coach Todd Wash are firmly planted behind him.
AJ Parker
Parker has been a real godsend this season. Yes, he’s really struggling the last two games, but which member of the Lions secondary team hasn’t? When the Lions were in good health, Parker scored in the ’70s in the first two games of the season. Since the injuries, Parker has scored 28.4 and 42.4 in the last two games. I don’t think you can count that too much against the undrafted rookie who has suddenly taken on a lot more responsibility now that he’s out there with guys like Bobby Price and Will Harris. This might be the one I’m completely wrong about, but at the moment it feels fair enough to put it on this list.
Romeo Okwara
You really hate to see Okwara come out with such a bad injury, especially since the Lions were getting their money’s worth from Okawara in 2021 after his $ 39 million extension. Normally I’d be inclined to say that this injury can affect Okwara’s long run and end his chances of being a big defensive star, but Okwara’s work ethic doesn’t let me believe it. He should be back next season and his ascent should continue.
Quintez Cephus
We’re still waiting for Cephus to really have a breakout moment. If you had asked me a few weeks ago, I would have put Amon-Ra St. Brown on this list, but he’s been damn almost invisible as Cephus continues to have moments that show he could be the the only Lions wide receiver to survive this season. Cephus will probably never be the Lions’ number one receiver, but if he continues to play the way he did and if he has that big breakout moment, he could certainly carve out a number two receiver spot for him. – even in the future.
Trey Flowers
I know it doesn’t look like it because her stat sheet doesn’t explode, but Flowers is pretty good at her job. When he’s healthy, Flowers is the best guy in the Lions defense. He just shouldn’t be the guy you expect to be constantly quarterbacking and leading the league in the sacks. He’s just not that type of player.
But he’s shown he can be good at what he does which is stop the race and tackle the guys. It might just be the one thing Bob Quinn did right while in Detroit. Imagine if he would have paired Flowers with a guy who can do the things that Is appears on the statistics sheet. I guess the Lions will try to do that in the future.
Guys who are almost there, but I couldn’t put them on this list
Derrick Barnes: Barnes is basically the 11th man on this list. He is more than likely safe after overcoming his initial difficulties.
Jamaal Williams: I didn’t add Williams to the list because his contract is so short. I think the Lions will eventually want to keep him, but I’m not sure he’ll end up staying.
Levi Onwuzurike: It doesn’t work for him yet. I think it will eventually do, but at the moment it looks bad.
Amon-Ra St. Brown: I really had high hopes for this kid. He hasn’t shown anything at all so far. I wonder how much a shift change could help him.
Jonas Jackson: He was better than I thought, but can Lions do better later? Probably.
Jack Fox: It is the punt god. He is. Probably never to leave.
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