Detroit Lions Mailbag: Does Jameson Williams’ rise mean that Amon-Ra St. Brown is taking a back seat?
We’re here. No more training camps or preseason games. We’re in the thick of Week 1 of the Detroit Lions’ season, and there will be football any day now. Lions fans have some questions, and we’ve got some answers. Let’s jump into it. Will the Lions add another pass rusher after Week 1? I’ve been […]
We’re here. No more training camps or preseason games. We’re in the thick of Week 1 of the Detroit Lions’ season, and there will be football any day now. Lions fans have some questions, and we’ve got some answers. Let’s jump into it.
Will the Lions add another pass rusher after Week 1?
I’ve been getting questions like this a lot, and yes, contracts are typically not fully guaranteed for players who sign after Week 1. But that is not a rule, and it doesn’t apply to everyone. For example, if Za’Darius Smith were to sign with the Lions, he could absolutely negotiate for a contract that has all the trimmings you’d expect a player of his caliber to get. Typically, the players who aren’t getting guarantees are the players who are joining the bottom of the roster or practice squads.
With that said, we’ll have to see how Week 1 goes. I think that’s the Lions’ plan at this time. See how the current defensive line handles things and go from there. If they ball out, don’t expect anything big going forward. If they don’t, then as Brad Holmes said last week, “anything is possible.”
Is Jared Goff the product of Ben Johnson, or is it the other way around?
When Ben Johnson stayed with the Lions after the 2023 season, he said that he was an extension of Jared Goff and that Goff was an extension of him. This was always an equal pairing. Everyone and their mother will tell you that Johnson is simply a mad genius who saved Goff and made Dan Campbell look good, but that is simply not true, and Johnson would tell you that, too.
In 2022, when Johnson took over as OC, he, Goff, Campbell, and John Morton all installed what we now know as the Lions offense together. Goff didn’t just sit in the corner and wait for his marching orders; he had a lot of say in how this thing was built, and it was completely built around him. This is why I struggle to understand everyone on the outside believing there will be a drop-off a cliff when three of the four guys who built this thing are still here.
Now, that is not to say that Johnson isn’t a good coach. He is. A lot of the creativity you saw came from his brain. He deserves a lot of credit for the Lions’ offense being as good as it was, but he was not the sole reason it functioned.
Will the Packers’ loss of Kenny Clark mean the Lions will run more on Sunday?
Absolutely. The Lions will run the ball no matter what because while Micah Parsons is one of the best pass rushers in the league, he’s a pretty pedestrian run defender. The Packers also have two new starters along the interior of their defensive line. Expect them to try to establish the run early and try to run it down their throats.
Will Jameson Williams’ and Jahmyr Gibbs’ rise cause Amon-Ra St. Brown and David Montgomery to take a back seat?
I wouldn’t expect Aidan Hutchinson to rotate out, but Marcus Davenport and Al-Quadin Muhammad will. Then, it feels safe to say that Mekhi Wingo could play some end as well. On the interior, we should see Roy Lopez and Tyleik Williams sharing the spot. Wingo could see reps there, too.
I think we’ll see more Gibbs than ever before, but we’ll still see Montgomery a good amount, too. Early on, the Lions might stick with their usual strategy of having each player get a drive and then rotating them throughout the game. The Lions have shown that they want to throw the deep ball more in 2025, and you could see Jameson Williams get dialed up for that more than anyone, but Amon-Ra St. Brown is the guy in this offense. He will get his numbers for sure. By the way, the guy looks better than ever, and that’s pretty scary for a player who was already an All-Pro.
What do the players think of Grant Stuard being a captain?
He just fits the culture perfectly. Stuard came in and started heading up the special teams group immediately, and the guys there just gravitated to him right away. It’s because he plays so hard, hits so hard, and is not at all quiet. He’s outspoken, and players respond to that.
Why aren’t we hearing a lot about Christian Mahogany?
Hmm… That’s an interesting question because Mahogany has been the starting left guard for this team all summer long and didn’t have any injury trouble last year. He was dealing with an illness that kept him out for the start of the year, but once he was healthy, he hit the ground running.
He has been quiet this summer, and I think that has something to do with all the attention being on Graham Glasgow and Tate Ratledge. So it’s more of a no news is good news type of situation. Nobody is talking about him because he isn’t making a lot of mistakes.
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The Lions trading for Micah Parsons feels like a move that Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn would have made
There are a lot of upset Detroit Lions fans right now. They’re upset because there’s a perception that every team in the NFC North got better this offseason, and their team did not. It all ties back to an edge rusher. It’s become an obsession around here. It’s the only thing a good deal of […]
