Detroit Lions mailbag: Who's this years breakout player?
Welcome to our first ever Detroit Lions mailbag here at A to Z Sports. The goal is that we'll try to do one of these every week form now on. Please send your questions to AtoZ_Payton on Twitter every Wednesday and we'll get them answered. Let's jump right into it. For me it's all about […]
Welcome to our first ever Detroit Lions mailbag here at A to Z Sports. The goal is that we'll try to do one of these every week form now on. Please send your questions to AtoZ_Payton on Twitter every Wednesday and we'll get them answered. Let's jump right into it.
For me it's all about tight end James Mitchell. Maybe I'm too in on the guy. He was atop my draft crush list in 2022. The reason for that is because Virginia Tech did just about everything with Mitchell while he was there. He played tight end, receiver, running back and even return some kicks. That's not your normal tight end.
He did tear is ACL in his final year at college and the Lions were able to get him at a steal because of it, but that also meant the Lions were going to bring him along slowly in his rookie year. While I fully expect Sam LaPorta to get most of the targets at tight end, Mitchell should be the next guy up on that list.
The Lions are going to be able to do so much in two tight end situations and Jared Goff is going to have an other weapon. Mitchell will break out in 2023.
The Lions are in a good place with their rookie linebacker. They don't need to rush him into it because they have the talent to make sure Campbell gets his development in and they don't have to just throw him out there in the starting spot and hope it works out. It's a place the Lions haven't really been before. At least not in a long time.
With that said, the expectation for Campbell is that he should be Lions starter by the end of the season. As far as stats go, Ideally you'd like to see him rack up the tackles and snatch some interceptions. At his height and with his athleticism, he should be able to do that.
Look for something similar to what Devin Lloyd did with Jaguars in 2022. 115 tackles and three interceptions would be nice.
When it comes to playing against Patrick Mahomes and this Chiefs offense, I'm not sure there are a whole lot of advantages a team can have. I think there could be a little bit of both here. This is a secondary that nobody has played against before. The hope is that they're good and they certainly should be, but we don't know if that's true yet because we haven't seen much outside of them playing with no pads on at OTA's and Mini Camp.
The good thing is that we saw a lot of early cohesion there. These guys seem to be getting along really well and they are leading the team in smack talk and swagger. They've also played pretty well together so far too. There's been some interceptions and the pass break ups. Will we see a lot more of those when the pads come on in July?
At this point I feel like we have to go over to the Lions facility and retrieve it ourselves in full Raiders of the Lost Ark style. There will be a pit of a daggers and a giant boulder that chases us through the tunnel. There will also be snakes. Lots of snakes.
In all seriousness, I'm right there along side you Lions fans. I'm clamoring for the next episode of Inside the Den. The Lions took a little while to get their post draft episode out last year too. They released on June 8th. We're past that time now. Maybe July? Maybe when I'm 64?
I guess it really depends on what we're talking about here. In terms of in ring work, Stunning Steve Austin was better. He went out there and really wrestled and did a bunch stuff that Stone Cold didn't do. Austin himself said that his move set was pretty small in WWE. Maybe it's because of the neck stuff.
In terms of the total package, I'm not talking about you Lex Luger, Stone Cold Steve Austin was far better. Better on the mic, better storylines and while the wrestling was better as Stunning Steve, he had far more memorable matches as Stone Cold.
According to Google the answer is three. Pretty sure I have something call Dyscalculia. Anytime I see a math equation the numbers coming shooting out and me and surround me like that gif of Zach Galifianakis from the Hangover. Still, I think I nailed it. Or Google did. I nailed that Google search.
Featured image by Lon Horwedel-USA TODAY Sports
