Detroit Lions Mailbag: Why are fantasy nerds hating after Swift trade?
Welcome to Week 4 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The Lions are 2-1 and they're going into a big divisional matchup with the Green Bay Packers where the winner will take over the first place spot in the NFC North. So naturally, our first question this week has to do with a player that doesn't […]
Welcome to Week 4 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The Lions are 2-1 and they're going into a big divisional matchup with the Green Bay Packers where the winner will take over the first place spot in the NFC North. So naturally, our first question this week has to do with a player that doesn't player here anymore.
Becasue much like Madden players, they live in a world with zero context and don't really understand football beyond saying stuff like PPR and handcuff.
D'Andre Swift has had a great start to his run with the Eagles. For some reason that's making everyone forget just how bad things were in Detroit. He couldn't stay healthy, he started just 18 of the 43 games he played becasue even when he was able to play, a lot of the time he was playing hurt. He also had this much documented propensity to run the ball out of bounds a lot.
Now, onto to what he's doing in Philly. This is not to discredit him, but he's running behind the best line in football and he hasn't been touched at all. 250 of his 308 yards are before contact. That's not saying that once he gets hit, he gets hurt. What it is saying is that he's running holes you can drive a car through and it's getting him into space.
The worst part of this is that everyone ignores that the Lions are pretty good at running the ball right now. They're 11th in rushing yards at the moment. That not to say that everything is perfect. They need to clean things up and I'm sure they will as the season goes on and David Montgomery returns.
That's something that the Seahawks actually just used to beat the Lions. They went up tempo and got the ball out fast. I think there's an element like that in the Lions offense, but I think they enjoy going through their reads and letting their plays play out.
With that said, once Montgomery comes back, that should give Jahmyr Gibbs more opportunities to be that safety valve guy that can make big plays out of short passes.
He should play Thursday. We haven't heard otherwise. To be honest, we haven't really heard anything about it at all. That's probably a good sign. While the Lions didn't have practices this week in the normal fashion, they had walkthroughs and he was a part of both of them.
Oh man. Usually when there's a draft question in September, it means the sky has completely fallen already. That's not the case though. The thing about the 32nd pick is that I don't think it's wildly out of the realm of possibility that the Lions are making it when it's all said and done.
As far as who they should pick, the thing about me is that I love skill positions and I don't care about positional value. So I think a receiver is the way to go. Someone to help bolster that unit along with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. Someone like Florida State's Keon Coleman. He's a big bodied X receiver that can go up and get it. The Lions don't really have that right now.
Yeah, I'm still upset that he left Michigan State, but Michigan State has really done nothing but make me upset lately, so it evens out.
The reality is that the Lions will probably draft a cornerback or trade the 32nd pick in an insane way that won't even look fair at the time it happens.
Hey! Another chance to talk about receivers. This is a tough one. The Lions are pretty good in the receiving game right now, but you can't help but wonder if they could be even better. Jameson Williams could answer that question very soon. The problem is you only have Williams for one week and then the trade deadline comes. So at that point, you really don't know what you have yet.
Do you just hold out and see what happens or do you take a shot at a guy like Mike Evans if the shot is nice enough to be taken? I don't know. I think they add to the receiving corps at some point becasue, like I said earlier, the Lions need an X receiver. I'm guessing that comes in the offseason.
Brodric Martin has always seemed like a player that could be a project for the Lions. There's a lot to like about his size and his athleticism. But he needs to learn the NFL game more and I don't think the Lions are in any rush with him. My guess is that we'll start to see him more down the stretch and then a lot more in 2024. If the Lions can mold him into what they want him to be, he could be a terror for offensive lines.
I think a lot of coaching staffs could. The issue with Pitts is that he has yet to play with a solid quarterback in a good offense. That's no shot at Ridder. I think he can be their guy in Atlanta, he just needs time. But yeah, a guy with that athleticism in this offense would be very fun to watch. The Lions sort of have that already in Sam LaPorta though. At least they have their guy is what I'm saying.
How to watch Lions vs Packers on Amazon Prime
Welcome to week 4 Detroit Lions fans. Normally we would wait until the day of the game to release our weekly how to watch article, but I wanted to get this one out a couple days early because there's something about this game that's brand new to Lions fans. This is the first Lions game […]
