The NFL Truth Nobody Wants to Admit: Building Like the Lions Works More Than Going All-In
NFL truth nobody wants to admit: building like the Detroit Lions through the draft and retention strategy works more often than going all-in on trades and free agency, even if the Rams-style “buying a roster” approach gets all the attention.
“Look, I know what the most common response to this is going to be. ‘But Mike, they won a Super Bowl five years ago.’ I get that. But there are a lot of nuances here that nobody really wants to pay attention to. Let’s talk about them.
There are two ways to build a team, and they both work, but the Lions’ method works a lot more.
There’s the way the Rams have been building. The Rams like to buy their players. They either sacrifice draft picks in trades or sign a bunch of players at high dollar. This method worked once. They got the Super Bowl. In 14 years as the Rams GM, he got the team to two Super Bowls.
There have been some other examples of this working, like the 2020 Buccaneers or the 2015 Broncos. Do you see the pattern here? It usually works one time, and then you either have to go a different direction to rebuild the team and the cap, or do what the Rams are doing, where you keep putting off the future trying to catch lightning in a bottle again.
Then there’s the Lions version of things: draft good players and retain them, and build a model that’s meant more for sustained success than trying to win one and then try to catch lightning again.
There is a ton of proof that this works way more often. The Eagles have been operating this way. Most of the guys on their team were drafted and retained. Howie Roseman has multiple Super Bowl rings. Frankly, when he sometimes tries the Rams route, it usually hasn’t worked. See basically all of his trades from last year.
The Chiefs’ stars were all drafted. They rarely delve into signing huge free agents or making big-time trades. It’s never been their style. They have multiple Super Bowl championships to show for it.
Look at last year’s Seahawks team: much more of a draft-and-retain strategy than going out and spending a ton of money on high-priced free agents or making huge trades. People might point out that the Seahawks spent the fourth-most in free agency the year before their Super Bowl win, but a little over half of what they spent was just them getting Sam Darnold.
Look at the Patriots dynasty with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. They rarely went out and spent a ton of money on guys. Remember what happened the year they did? They went out and got Randy Moss and lost in the Super Bowl to the Giants. They were more draft-and-retain than anything else.
At the end of the day, there are countless examples of how what the Lions are doing works way more often. I know fans want a dopamine hit. I know they want to see something big happen, and they want to feel that moment. But I also know that when it doesn’t work out, they’ll be the first to blame that moment for the reason the team didn’t win it all. It’s all psychology, and we’re all dealing with it in some way, shape, or form.”
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