Cover photo taken from Detroit Free Press.
Welcome to 32 Teams in 32 Days, a daily series leading up to kickoff of the 2025 NFL season where I preview every team in the league as decided by a wheel spin and project what their season will look like. You can keep up with everything right here.
It’s about damn time the wheel landed on an NFC playoff team. And the Lions are a particularly juicy one, because I’ve got some strong opinions on this squad going into 2025 considering how last year ended and how the offseason treated them.
Let’s start in 2024, which saw Detroit have the best season in franchise history by pretty much every metric: points, yards, wins, winning streak, you name it. A 15-2 mark, an NFC North title and 1 seed and a status as the Super Bowl favorite entering the postseason. They were third in EPA/play on offense, first in success rate, second in yards/game and first in points/game with 33.2, the highest output the league has seen since the 2019 Ravens (funny how both these seasons ended in pretty much the same way).
The Lions were essentially a superteam everywhere on offense, and it all started with QB Jared Goff, who had by far the best year of his pretty underrated career. He was the most efficient quarterback in football, ranking first in EPA+CPOE — above guys like Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow — and success rate. Jahmyr Gibbs emerged as one of the league’s top running backs with 1,412 yards and 16 touchdowns on damn near six yards per carry. Amon-Ra St. Brown continued his WR1 ways with a massive 115-catch, 1,263-yard and 12-touchdown campaign. Even Jameson Williams came on strong with a career-high 1,001 yards and seven touchdowns.
The defense was a different story. Yes, they have bonafide stars everywhere: Aidan Hutchinson off the edge, Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell at linebacker, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph at the safeties. But the best ability is availability, and the Lions didn’t exactly get that.
Though things got off to a hot start, Hutchinson’s broken leg in Week 6 began an awful trend for that side of the ball as impact player after impact player suffered injury after injury, leading to a complete collapse on that side of the all. From Week 13 to the Divisional Round, Detroit’s defense was 29th in EPA/play and 30th in dropback EPA. Everyone from Josh Allen and Jayden Daniels to Jordan Love and Brock Purdy tore them apart up and down the field, and it led to their undoing in the postseason.
So, about that. Just to get it out the way. I mean, I don’t really talk about it. Not really. Not much. Okay, maybe a little. Maybe a lot. Depends who you ask. But, after the greatest season in franchise history, as nearly double-digit home favorites against the wild card Commanders, it all crashed and burned for the Lions in their first playoff game, losing 45-31 to a rookie quarterback courtesy of five turnovers — four of which coming from Goff — and a nonexistent defense. Never gets old saying that.
Thus, the Lions entered the offseason on a whimper. And it wasn’t much kinder to them. By the time the Super Bowl rolled around, they lost OC Ben Johnson, WR coach Antwaan Randle El and QB coach JT Barrett to Chicago — can’t wait to talk about that when the time comes, by the way — DC Aaron Glenn, TE coach Steve Heiden and pass game coordinator Tanner Engstrand to the Jets — more on that here — and DL coach Terrell Williams to the Patriots. That’s absolutely insane, even after a 15-win season. Plus, standout center Frank Ragnow retired out of nowhere, guard Kevin Zeitler left for Tennessee and Carlton Davis headed to New England.
Detroit did their best to replace what they lost. LB coach Kelvin Sheppard was promoted to DC, John Morton was brought in from Denver to be the OC, DJ Reed was a marquee signing at DB, and Tate Rateledge was a high draft pick to fill the void left in the interior of the line. But, as is always the case when a team loses so much of its infrastructure, we just don’t know whether or not the Lions can sustain the success that they had in the last two seasons.
That being said, I trust Dan Campbell. He’s proven himself as a master motivator and a heck of a coach. He can figure this thing out. Even though they’re likely to take a step back after a dream 2024, this team will still be fine for the most part. They’re just too talented to fall off the face of the earth.
X-Factor: The Offensive Line
I’ve heard a ton of people say the Lions have the best offensive line in the league. I have no clue where that’s coming from. Yes, Penei Sewell is one of the best right tackles in football. Yes, Taylor Decker has been holding down the blind side for years. Yes, Ragnow was a dog at center. But this line was 12th in pass block win rate and 16th in run block win rate a year ago. That’s hardly elite. Between the explosiveness of Gibbs and the quick-hitting nature of the offense, they just didn’t have many cracks that showed. Now, that unit is clearly weaker than it was a year ago, which is a massive concern for me. Poor offensive line will lead to a worse game, a worse Goff, a worse offense in general. That’s the Lions’ whole identity. If it comes crashing down, it could be ugly. But, if the new guys come in and keep up the standard, then the offense should still be able to function as normal.
Team MVP: RB Jahmyr Gibbs
I haven’t talked too much about Gibbs up to this point, but what more is there to say? We’ve all seen the blistering start he’s had to his career. He’s already one of the most dynamic backs in football with ridiculous speed and elite contact balance, making him one of the most feared players for defenders to stop in the open field. I still contend that if the Lions could’ve just handed the ball to him on every play against the Commanders, there’s no way we would’ve won. But, that’s not how life works. In any case, I expect Gibbs to continue his monstrous ways in 2025 en route to a potential OPOY nod. He’s just that good. And this offense will need him to be at that level if they want to get where they think they can go.
Breakout Candidate: LB Jack Campbell
I don’t know that Campbell hasn’t already broken out, but this can be the type of season that sees him make his first Pro Bowl or even get his first All-Pro nod. After seemingly being a reach in the first round in 2023, he’s been a stud holding down the middle of the field with 226 combined tackles in his first two seasons. He’s got the intangibles and the smarts to emerge as one of the league’s top on-ball linebackers if he stays healthy; luckily, he hasn’t missed a single game thus far in his career.
Record Prediction: 10-7
It just feels natural. Look at what happened to the Eagles in 2023 after they lost so much in the coaching staff and from a personnel standpoint. It’s just not easy to replace so many high-impact people in the building in one offseason. Plus, the defense is dealing with so much uncertainty; Hutchinson will be back, but there are still injuries galore up front that cause concern. The Lions have the infrastructure to remain in a competitive place for the next few years, and they’ll be in the playoffs this season, but it just feels like they’ll take one step back before taking those steps forward again. Plus, this schedule is a blitz with games against Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and the Rams in addition to the cutthroat NFC North. For reference, the Lions only played two playoff teams after Week 2 last season: Houston and Buffalo. The AFC South ain’t walking through that door.
Oh, speaking of which…
Next up: 
Tennessee Titans
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