NFL analyst ranks Lions' Dan Campbell lower than Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, and more
We're in a weird offseason ranking season, everyone. Basically, every site is doing them. I'm sure we have a few out there. They're fun and there's nothing wrong with them. A lot of them tend to make you go "What?!" though. Like the one that Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus put out on Tuesday, […]
We're in a weird offseason ranking season, everyone. Basically, every site is doing them. I'm sure we have a few out there. They're fun and there's nothing wrong with them. A lot of them tend to make you go "What?!" though.
Like the one that Dalton Wasserman of Pro Football Focus put out on Tuesday, where he ranked the 10 best returning head coaches in the NFL. You would think that Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell would be on the list, and you'd be right. You'd think he'be high on that list, and you'd be wrong. He was ninth.
Below the likes of Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, and others. If you want to place Campbell around fifth behind Andy Reid, Sean McVay, John Harbaugh, and Nick Sirianni, I can understand those moves.
But in what way have Jim Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin, and Sean Payton shown they're better than Campbell in recent years? What about those guys, place them above Campbell now?
You won't be shocked to learn that Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn were both brought up in the explanation of Campbell's ranking. There's a heavy belief among football people that the Lions were only ever good because of Johnson and that Campbell was just lucky to be around. That's just not the real case.
In terms of the Chargers, Steelers, and Broncos, all three of those teams should be decent to good in 2025. The Broncos might have the best defense in the league this year. The Steelers always make the playoffs, but Aaron Rodgers is about to tank them out of that. The Chargers one I don't really get at all. They didn't have that great of a 2024, and I don't know why 2025 is better.
The Lions still have the best overall roster of any of these teams and are coming off a season where they were the best offense in the NFL and a top-five defensive team until all the injuries were too much.
It feels as though no coach in the NFL has more qualifiers as to why they're good than Campbell. Much like his quarterback, Jared Goff, he'll always only be considered good because of someone else.
Trade proposal brings the Lions a former second-round edge rusher in exchange for a veteran starter
We're still in the dead zone of the NFL year, and the Detroit Lions won't be back to training camp for another three weeks. Now is the time to experiment a bit and create some trade proposals that could address some of the Lions' issues. The Lions did not really address the edge rusher situation […]
