Detroit Lions Mailbag: Will the Lions regret not trading for a second edge rusher?

Welcome to Week 10 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The NFL trade deadline has passed and now it's time to get back to regular old football. We got a lot of questions this week, let's jump into them.  I think Lions fans should have super high confidence in Dan Campbell. The thing about these really […]

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer
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Welcome to Week 10 of the Detroit Lions mailbag. The NFL trade deadline has passed and now it's time to get back to regular old football. We got a lot of questions this week, let's jump into them. 

I think Lions fans should have super high confidence in Dan Campbell. The thing about these really good coordinators is that he chose them. That shows that he's pretty good at choosing guys on staff. The other thing is that I think this staff is set up really well for the future and that their next guys are probably already here and when they step in, they'll know what to expect and how to execute. 

With that said, I still don't think Ben Johnson is going anywhere. I think this is a guy that just likes to call plays and then go home to his family. Some guys don't want to be head coaches and I can't blame them. 

I was definitely on the side of things that was all about getting another edge rusher, but I don't know if I can say they'll regret not doing it. At the end of the day this defense is playing well despite the loss of Hutchinson. With Smith and a healthy Paschal out there, they should be able to generate some decent pass rush.

Now if they can't get anything out of guys like Al-Quadin Muhammad, Isaac Ukwu, Mekhi Wingo and others, then you can really start wondering if they made a mistake. I think they're in good shape though.

Here's what we know, Dan Campbell said this last week.

"Yeah, the best I can tell you is that he’s progressing. He’s gotten better. He’s better than he was when we put him on Injured/Reserve, so that’s a good thing and that was why we did it. We wanted to get him right and not feel pressured or hurried to get him out there and get it to where he feels comfortable. He feels good about it, he feels good about his body, and so he’s progressed nicely.”

I really think he's done. I know he's in great shape and everything and if there were a chance he'd come out of retirement, I do believe he'd consider the Lions, but I also really believe him when he says that he's happy with what he's doing. He gets to talk football and then go home to his wife and kids at the end of the night. It's hard for anyone to walk away from that. 

Smith is playing really well right now. 21 of his 27 pressures he's had this season have all come in the last five games. I think with a better interior and him being the guy over here, he can get some numbers on the board. My prediction right now is 12 sacks. We'll see if I'm wrong or not. 

Give me option two all day. It's a win/win in a way. If he misses, hey the Lions made it the Super Bowl. But if he hits it, man could there ever be a more hype moment for a kicker? Lions fans were already going to cry tears of joy, if they win this way they're going to be blubbering. We're talking orgasmic levels of hype right here. Give me that all day. 

For starters, the Lions are going to have to beat the Packers and Vikings again down the road. The Bears in Chicago could be a rough one depending on the weather. I say that knowing the Lions just won in the rain. Cold and snowy is way worse if you ask me.

Outside of the division there's the Bills and the 49ers. Those games should both be good ones. The Colts are tougher than their record looks. 

I think there's a really good shot that you see Zylstra on the Lions 53-man roster before long. He's been making a lot of noise at practice and Campbell has noticed it. 

"I would say the biggest reason is because Zylstra has really improved over the last – call it month, three or four weeks. He was hard to ignore in practice, we felt like he’s a pretty good athlete and every week he was giving our defense fits on the scout team. And that’s what we were looking for through camp, through training camp. And I told him the week before we elevated him, I said, ‘I see you and you’re getting better and better and better.’ The run game and pass game, and so we felt like it’s time to give him another opportunity and he’s been good for us.”

I'm going to go with an A. The Maxx Crosby and Myles Garrett things were never real. This was the best possible thing they could have done and they did it. Plus the Lions got a bit of a discount. The Browns wanted a fourth-round pick and they got a fifth and a future sixth instead. 

I went with 13 ahead of the season and I'm sticking with that. With that said, I could totally see the Lions getting as high as 14 or 15 if they keep playing the way they're playing. 

I don't know if I would really call it a miss because at the time I felt it was a steal considering his draft projections ahead of his injury, but James Mitchell has to be the biggest disappointment for me. 

I was high on Mitchell coming out and mocked him to the Lions multiple times. I thought at worst he could be a really good TE2, but that hasn't happened. He's on the team still, but I just don't know if we'll ever see him go out and show what he did at Virginia Tech.

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