Ok, I know you're in pain this morning, but let's start working towards getting out of the pain and towards the future for the Detroit Lions. There's a lot to do for this team from now until it's time to report back to camp in July. Here's a checklist that has everything the Lions need to do this offseason:

Find out what's happening with your coaching staff

Is Ben Johnson going to Washington? Will Aaron Glenn stay in Detroit? Who's going to replace Johnson if he leaves? At this point it seems like Glenn is going to stay. There's two jobs left and only one of them interviewed Glenn and they seem to be more interested in Johnson. 

It certainly seems like there's a lot of smoke around Ben Johnson going to Washington, but there's some smoke around other guys going there too. We're going to likely find out the answers to these questions within this first week of the offseason. 

Extend Jared Goff

Here is the Lions top priority this offseason. It's time to lock up Goff for the foreseeable future. The man has more than proved to be the guy for this team in the last three seasons. That's why the entire state of Michigan has been chanting his name for the last three weeks. There's a pretty solid shot that Jared Goff could be the leagues highest paid quarterback after this season. There's also a solid shot that this happens very soon. 

Senior Bowl

Draft season is starting right away. Practices are being held from January 29th to February 2nd. The game itself will be on the 3rd. A to Z Sports will be down in Mobile, Alabama all week to keep track of who the Lions are looking at and which players are making a splash. Get ready to watch some prospects. 

Pro Bowl

The Lions had a lot of Pro Bowlers and Pro Bowl alternates voted in this year. Let's see how many of them show up to take part in the Pro Bowl on February 4th. It's a fun thing for them, why not Right? 

NFL Combine

The pajama Olympics will be from February 27th to March 4th. All those guys from the Senior Bowl will be there to show everyone how fast they run and how high they can jump. You'll also get to hear from Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell a lot during this time and start to get some ideas on the players they might have some interest in. The combine is also a spot where guys start moving up and down the draft board too. So maybe a guy you think the Lions can't get with the 29th pick is suddenly falling their way. Or maybe a that guy moves up. It's fun to watch. 

Resign players you plan to keep, say goodbye to the ones you don't

After the Pro Bowl, the Lions next move is to start locking some of the players they want to keep moving with. Guys like Graham Glasgow, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Jonah Jackson should all be getting signed around this time. The Lions have until March 13th to get these done if they want to do it before these players become free agents. 

On the flip side, the Lions aren't going to bring everyone back. This will be the time in which they let guys walk or they part with some cap casualties to free up more cap space. 

Free Agency

Speaking of free agency and March 13th, the Lions should have some opportunities to make some splashes this year. As I type this very sentence, the Lions have the sixth most cap space in the NFL. They also have a team that was a couple plays away from going to the Super Bowl, is super young and has a great culture. The Lions are going to be a destination for guys that are looking to win a championship. While the new league year and free agency starts on the 13th, the negotiating period, and all the madness that comes with it, starts on the 11th. 

Teams can also begin to execute trades for players on the 13th as well. Technically they can do that today if they wanted to, but the trade is not official until the 13th. 

Annual League meeting

All the teams are going to get together and talk stuff over. If you hated the officiating this year and you're hoping for some new rules. This is where these things are going to get done. It's also where coaches get scanned for the next Madden game. Perhaps this year they won't make put Dan Campbell's head onto a little skinny body. The league meeting will take place from March 24th to March 27th. 

Deadline to meet with draft prospects

The Lions must have all their meetings with draft prospects they invited to come visit Detroit done by April 17th. By this day, you should have a pretty good idea of most of the guys the Lions have talked to and are thinking about taking. 

NFL Draft

April 25th through April 27th is going to be huge for the Lions because the draft is taking place in Detroit this year. At this point, the Lions have the 29th selection in the first round of this years draft. As we all know, Brad Holmes might have that pick somewhere else at some point during the draft. It's going to be wild to watch Holmes cook in front of an audience of mostly Lions fans. 

Fifth Year Option

The Lions have until May 2nd to apply the fifth year option to Penei Sewell's contract. It would be incredibly shocking if this doesn't happen. That is unless the thing that does happen is the Lions work out a completely new deal for him ahead of this time. The likelihood is that they get that fifth year option on him and work out a deal after next season. We'll see though. 

Rookie mini camp

The Lions will get to work with their rookie for the first time at their rookie mini camp. That will be from either May 3rd through the May 6th or May 10th through May 13th. 

OTA's 

The Lions can begin offseason training with their players on on April 15th. That's just phase one of the offseason training program. Mostly meetings and working with trainers at this point. The real stuff like voluntary workouts and mandatory mini camps won't be scheduled till later. Those things happen in May and June. 

Unscheduled things

There's a few things that haven't been scheduled yet, but are of great interest. The leagues schedule release for the 2024 season. That should be out sometime in May. This past season they announced the schedule for all games on May 11th. Training camp dates are not set yet, but look for that to start at the end of July. Along with that will be the start of the preseason. Those dates are not scheduled yet either. Although we do know at this point the Hall of Fame game will be on August 1st. 

The Lions did exactly what you wanted them to do and it didn’t work out

Ok, let's talk about it. The Detroit Lions went to the NFC Championship game and had a real shot to win the game. The Lions made some mistakes. They fumbled the ball, they allowed one of the most insane bad break catches ever and ultimately lost the game. I know what everyone is going to […]