The Fireside Chat podcast is back! We started up last night at (slightly after) the usual 10 pm Eastern time on Sunday night, and did a little training camp/roster Q&A. Technical difficulties did exist—but hey, it’s training camp for everyone, right? Give it a listen; if you dig it, subscibe to the podcast feed. If not? Well, as always, I’ll try and do better next time.
Read more...Nick Fairley showed up to this morning’s practice in a walking boot, obviously unable to work. Confirmed by a Tweet from the Detroit News’ Chris McCosky, the previously-thought-to-be-minor injury became a possible stress fracture. To steal a meme from MGoBlog:
PANIC?
No, no panic. For starters, this is training camp—bumps and bruises happen. For seconds, this training camp comes after the longest absolutely-no-work layoff in modern NFL history. Normally, these guys have already gone through several sessions of “no contact” (but actually mostly full speed) OTAs, plus a full minicamp. The player-only workouts were just conditioning and 7-on-7 stuff; this is the first real football of 2011 and it’s already August. There were bound to be more nicks and dings than usual.
Here's the other thing: depth. Remember The Parable Of The One-Eyed Beggar? This is partly why the Lions have Corey Williams AND Ndamukong Suh AND Sammie Hill AND Nick Fairley AND Andre Fluellen: so that they can lose one or two of those guys for a while without much of a dropoff.
The flipside is that the Lions’ defensive line must keep rolling waves, so they’ll need Fairley back—but not the way they needed Ndamukong Suh last season. Suh played a thousand snaps, nearly every single down the defense was on the field last season. Fairley was never going to carry that big of a load even if he showed up to camp in the best shape of his life, dominated every rep, and didn’t suffer so much as a paper cut. He’s an extremely talented player and he seems like a nice, fun-loving guy—but he doesn’t need to be an All-Pro for the Lions to have a good defense this year.
If you want to read the tea leaves for how this season’s going to go, don’t scour the injury report, check out Tom Kowalski’s first “Camp Observations” posts:
An interesting play developed during the first period of team work. The Lions' offense went to the line of scrimmage and center Dominic Raiola changed the call. Safety Louis Delmas sensed something and quickly changed the defensive call and shifted the defensive alignment. Seeing that, Raiola quickly reverted back to the original call and snapped the ball. It was a running play wide left and Jahvid Best broke it for a long gainer, bringing cheers from the crowd.
I love every single thing about that quote. I love that we see the value of Raiola: there are bigger centers who can run block better, but he improves the whole offense with his ability to read a defense and change the protection—or even the play. It’ll never show up on a stat sheet, or even in Pro Football Focus’s grades, but it Dominic Raiola brings a wealth of value to this team that that cannot be denied.
Second, I love that Louis Delmas is maturing. His groin healed from last season, allowing him to again play like “Da Missile” we saw in 2009—but he’s coming into his own as a complete safety now. He has the recognition skills and leadership ability to put the rest of the defense in position to succeed; he’s not just flying around putting shoulders into people.
Third, I love that Jahvid Best can still hit the home run. We didn’t see much of his “jets” after the first few games, but I believe he’s going to make a believer out of everyone this year. Delmas and Best were two guys who were supposed to be huge for the Lions last year, and they weren’t. If they can play at the level described above, they’ll improve the team just as much as Tulloch, Durant, or any of the offseason additions.
Original image by Donnan Photography; altered & used with permission.
Welcome.
Whether you've been here since the beginning, or just wandered up to the blue bonfire, welcome.
Today is the first day of the first year of the New Lions. Not the possibility, not the promise, not the potential. Reality. This is the year when the Detroit Lions will take the field knowing they should win—and more often than not, leave the field victorious. This is the season that the Lions stake their claim as a perennial playoff team. This is the year that their championship window opens. This is the year where everyone, everywhere, sees the massive, roaring column of blue fire exploding above the tree line, lashing out into the sky, and are compelled to come near, and watch in wonder.
It has been a long, slow wait. It has been a punishing chore splitting and hauling the wood. It has been a bone-chilling, skin-cracking cold, penetrating my parka on the edge of the wind’s knife. It has been more than three years I’ve tended the little blue flame—and together with many of you we have sheltered it, fueled it, and watched it grow. We have warmed our hands as it’s waxed, and gone back to work as it’s waned, all the while greeted the folks who’ve come to watch with a smile, a handshake and a mug of cider.
Yesterday, the Lions signed middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch, and re-signed cornerback Chris Houston. Together with Justin Durant, Eric Wright, and Erik Coleman, the Lions have added prime starters or quality backups for every position in the much-maligned back seven. Tulloch will center Levy and Durant behind the monster defensive line, and Wright will compete with Alphonso Smith, Nathan Vasher and Aaron Berry for the #2 corner spot. Add Coleman competing with Amari Spievey to be Louis Delmas’ backfield partner, and suddenly the Lions’ defense looks solid, even scary.
The offense is still the identity of this team, though, and with Matthew Stafford leading a truly exceptional corps of backs, receivers, and tight ends, the Lions will put up points in bunches. Based on their play last season, the talent they’ve added, and the return of Stafford, I expect the Lions to be amongst the top five scoring offenses in football. Pair that with the at-least-average-and-probably-better defense and, well . . . you have a playoff team.
Suddenly, the Lions are a hot ticket. The Lions opened as 30/1 longshots to with the NFC, but have been bet all the way down to 6/1. Peter King, when asked for his picks to make the Super Bowl, spoke the Lions’ name (as “a little bit of an upset.”). We haven’t seen this kind of attention and praise for our Leos in many years; it might seem bizarre, even disorienting. Some of you might be young enough to never remember the Lions entering the season as playoff contenders! Here’s a piece of advice to guide you through this strange and confusing time:
Enjoy it.
Crack a smile! Have a laugh. Take a big swig of hearty cider, and toast your favorite team with gusto. Break out your old Honolulu Blue gear, or buy some new stuff. Don it with pride, and say hey to everyone you see doing the same. If we ought to have learned anything over these past few seasons, it’s to treasure the good times—so why hedge our bets? Why hide this light we’ve kept burning for so long? What was all that work for, if not to enjoy it in times like these?
Yes, I know: you’ve been hurt before. You’ve believed before. But trust me on this one: you won’t want to spend this season with your nose in the air. You won’t want to spend this season mowing the lawn during games. You won’t want to “wait” for the Lions to “prove it” before you believe. Watching them prove it is what it’s all about! It’s what we’ve all waited for!
So. Today, be awed by the power of the blue flame. Marvel at the swell of support from across the nation. Read the reports of training camp practices (real practices!) like a kid who found their parents’ Christmas shopping list. Cherish every moment of this Lions season that you can, because it will be be one we’ll want to remember forever.
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Last night, Twitter was burning up with rumors of undrafted free agent contract agreements. Speculation, rumor, confirmation; media and players and agents and fans all Tweeting at, about, and over each other about who’s going where. I was fielding questions about potential and actual signees, and I had to say something that I don’t like to say: “I don’t know.”
For starters, as I’ve said, I don’t know very much about college football. Once I get past Michigan State and their rivals in the Big Ten, my knowledge of NCAA pigskin is barely skin deep. I love the NFL draft, but I don’t typically “scout” prospects projected to go after the fourth round. I certainly don’t familiarize myself with potential UDFA. Why? Because I love the Lions, and I love the NFL—and, especially with the roster in its current state—undrafted free agent rookies have a Olympic mountain to climb to make the roster.
Let’s look at position we’re stressing about: Offensive Tackle. With Jeff Backus and Gosder Cherilus both coming off of injury, it would make sense to pursue some “help” at offensive tackle, right? Well, the Lions already have Jason Fox, Corey Hilliard, Tony Ugoh, and Johnny Culbreath behind those two. The Lions aren’t carrying six, or even five, pure offensive tackles on a roster of 53. Any UDFA is going to have to prove that he’s better than the guy the Lions drafted ahead of him, plus two of Fox, Hilliard, and Ugoh, just to make the team. It’s nearly impossible that a UDFA could actually provide “help” at the offensive tackle spot.
Of course, the starting roster is thinner in other places, but not by much. The Lions have 77 players on their roster, with 14 of them due to be free agents. With the new camp roster limit of 90, the Lions will be signing twenty-seven players over the coming week or so, and at least half of the resultant 90-man roster won’t even dress for Week 1. There will be an unprecedented number of “new Detroit Lions,” most of whom have almost no chance of impacting the Lions’ season.
When the news broke of the Lions’ agreement to terms with Alabama TE/FB/H-back Preston Dial, longtime commenter/Tweeter @Dustin_aka_D asked me if I knew whether Lions planned to use him as a tight end, or a fullback. @Dustin_aka_D saw the stacked depth chart at TE and wondered what the Lions were planning to do with Dial. Long story short, they plan to bring him into camp and see if he’s an NFL-caliber football player—the same as all these UDFAs.
I've said before that the Lions are going to the playoffs. They see themselves as a playoff team. They have a playoff-caliber roster. The days of the Lions signing a Randy Philips off the street and thinking, “Wow, this guy could upgrade our starting lineup!” are over. It’s not anything against these young men—if Dial proved himself the next Chris Cooley I’d be ecstatic—but a sign of how far the Lions have come in how short of a time.
So. Over the next few hours, let’s heartily welcome our new, young Lions. Let’s wish them a great camp and a successful showing and as long of a career in the NFL as they can muster. But, let’s not burden them—or ourselves, with any kind of expectations about what they’ll be able to contribute to the bottom line.
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In case you haven’t heard, the NFL Lockout is officially—really, truly, and finally—over. Don your silliest party hat, find one of those wheedly flicky-tongue things, pour yourself a pint of your favorite, and turn up “Celebration” by Kool and the Gang. The NFL lockout is officially over, and football can finally begin . . . well, mostly. Per SI’s obtained copy of the settlement terms, here’s how the timeline breaks down:
This sets the stage for the wildest week of football talk in the history of the Internet. In the course of the next five days, the Lions will open their doors, sign all their draft picks, fight all the other clubs to sign ten or so UDFA, begin the chess match of free agent negotiation, start training camp, and THEN sign new veterans as current ones leave, clawing and scrapping with the other 31 teams to get 90 (!) guys on the roster by this time next week.
Meanwhile, the Lions will have to mind their salary cap Ps and Qs: the cap will be set at $120,375,000 with an extra $3M in veteran exceptions. Per Roar Report capologist DeadStroke, the Lions carried ~$127M in cap charges back in March. Much more recently, ESPN’s John Clayton reported that after expected departures, the Lions would have $16.6M of cap room—but the Detroit News’s Chris McCosky wrote last Wednesday that he couldn’t figure out how Clayton found anywhere near that much cap space.
This makes Nnamdi Asomugha a pipe dream—and even the Lions’ reported top target, Johnathan Joseph, a stretch. Besides the rumors of who’s negotiating with who that will hit the wire come Tuesday lunchtime, keep a close watch on Thursday for the release of Lions veterans. Cuts, and whispers of renegotiated contracts for players like Jeff Backus, will hint broadly at the Lions’ approach. Will they be major players for major contributors, or just dipping a finger in the frosting of a rich free agent cake?
For tonight, though, we celebrate! Come down to the blue bonfire, and make yourself at home. The casks of cider are full to bursting, and the blue flame has scarcely roared higher. We’ll toast the return of the team we love, the new players we’re about to welcome, and the glorious new season we’re surely about to go through together. This is our time; this is our year. Money couldn’t stop it, the lawyers couldn’t stop it, and the bickering couldn’t even slow it down. Celebrate with me, friends, together.
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