Former rival GM impressed by Lions at joint practice
The Detroit Lions had a very good day on Tuesday. They welcomed the New York Giants in for the first of their two joint practices and they looked pretty dominant out there. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. That shouldn't be a shock after the Lions were a top five offense last year […]
The Detroit Lions had a very good day on Tuesday. They welcomed the New York Giants in for the first of their two joint practices and they looked pretty dominant out there. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. That shouldn't be a shock after the Lions were a top five offense last year and arguably got better.
Along with the Giants came just about everyone from the national sports world. Allen Park was full of recognizable faces on Tuesday. One really stuck out though and that's Rick Spielman. The former general manager of NFC North rivals the Minnesota Vikings. He's also Chris Spielman's brother. I'm sure you knew that already though.
Spielman is working with CBS Sports these days as an analyst and he went to Detroit in that capacity Tuesday. He came away impressed. Here's what he had to say.
There's a lot to unpack there and he only said two things. First is that the Lions upgraded at running back. There were a lot of people who didn't feel that way at first or weren't sure if that was the correct answer.
It makes a lot of sense today. Jamaal Williams and D'Andre Swift were fun and were certainly a productive group, but the they were ill defined and one of them was often injured.
With David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, you get two guys who's skill sets compliment each other very well. Montgomery can be your three down back while Gibbs can be your change of pace guy that can do work in the pass game too. The Lions get a more youthful and athletic group in the back field.
As far as Aidan Hutchinson goes, he had an impressive day on Tuesday as well. He got in the back field and sacked Daniel Jones during red zone drills.
Spielman came away impressed by his work ethic. He was impressed enough to say that Hutchinson will have double digit sacks in 2023. That's big for the Lions. Hutchinson continuing to grow and showing that his rookie year wasn't his ceiling is a big deal.
As for the Kayvon Thibodeaux comparison, this was the war leading up to the 2022 draft. Hutchinson and Thibodeaux were considered the top two prospects for a while. Thibodeaux was mocked to the Lions on many occasions, even by this writer. It looks like Hutchinson is ahead of him right now. We'll see where this goes.
This was Spielman's other tweet. He's really confirming that the Lions made some good moves during the offseason. They drafted four guys that are going to immediately going to make an impact on their roster. This tweet alone should quell any worries you had about the unofficial depth chart not having LaPorta and Campbell starting. Those things are always wrong.
We've been hearing how well the Lions secondary has been performing all summer since OTA's, here's another nod of the cap to them. It looks like the Lions defense should have a much better season.
Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
