The Detroit Lions’ preseason is less than a month away which means get ready for a bunch of no-name players trying to keep a job. Whether it’s a special teams spot or practice squad spot, I’m not going to bore you with a bunch of names that you’re never going to hear playing for the Lions on Sundays. What I am going to do though is preview some players that you may not of heard before and what to look for as we trek towards week one.
In fact, some of these names are going to take some time to get used too. Why? Because they’re not Reggie Bush, Ndamukong Suh or Nick Fairley.
1. Predicted defensive line rotation
I think the starters are obvious as we’ll see Haloti Ngata, Ziggy Ansah and Jason Jones as consistent every down players. Between Jones and Ngata we’ll see a nice rotation of Tyrunn Walker and rookie Gabe Wright.
Walker was signed by the Lions in free agency after Suh signed with the Dolphins and Fairley got a cheap short-term deal to play with the Rams. Gabe Wright is a solid 4th round choice coming out of this years NFL Draft and should find himself playing in short yardage and certain pass-rushing situations.
Overall, that’s five solid defensive lineman with more talent waiting in the wings.
Larry Webster should see a crack at a main roster spot as he should fill the shoes of George Johnson who was dealt to the Buccaneers right before the Draft.
The Lions made a minor splash but a nice one by signing free agent defensive lineman in Corey Wooton who will find a spot in the rotation at defensive end and defensive tackle.
Lastly, Darryl Tapp and Devin Taylor will find spots as well at the defensive end position.
But why would the Lions keep both Tapp and Taylor?
Taylor is young player that the defensive staff really likes after he played well last season for the amount of time he saw on the field. Tap on the other hand is a veteran presence who does have injury concerns but he played a nice role on special teams last season.
Overall, the Lions have nine players to spread around four defensive line positions, which is very similar to what they had last season. I expect really good play from this group and potentially even better play than last year, despite the loss of Suh, Fairley and Johnson.
2. The slot receiver
Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate have the first two spots on the depth chart, respectively.
But who will be the guy that plays between them?
My choice is Lance Moore with some reps from Corey Fuller and Greg Salas.
Lets start with Moore who is a 10-year-veteran and saw his best years in New Orleans where he got comfortable with Sean Payton and Joe Lombardi. Reuniting with Lombardi is probably what will give Moore another two-years in the league and potentially over 40 receptions this season. Maybe that’s a little much from what he did last year but I expect the Lions to throw this season, a lot.
Next we see Corey Fuller who was a 6th round draft pick in 2013. Last season we saw improvements by him and I think we’ll see steady growth from him again this year.
Playing right behind Fuller will be Greg Salas who is entering his 5th year in the league and has yet to score a touchdown. He’s got good size and decent speed to play on a rotational basis or in a shotgun spread. He’ll more than likely be a special teams contributor over anything but I’d put him in my 5th wide receiver spot.
That leaves Jeremy Ross, Titus Jones and Ryan Broyles to get the axe. I would expect Broyles or Ross to get the axe before Jones. More than likely though it will be Broyles as he hasn’t been able to recover from numerous knee surgeries. Also, as much as I don’t want to say it, Ross will play a role in the return game.
Jones on the other hand will more than likely spend another year on the practice squad before seeing any time on the 53 man roster.
3. The Secondary
Darius Slay and Rashean Mathis are the starters at the cornerback position with James Ihedigbo and Glover Quin starting at the safety spots behind them.
Behind Mathis and Slay will be a two rookies in Alex Carter and Quandre Diggs. Behind the rookies will be Nevin Lawson who should only see snaps on special teams or in the secondary if there’s any injuries. Behind Quin and Ihedigbo will be Isa Abdul-Quddus who saw a lot of time as a third safety last year and was more productive than predicted. Abdul-Quddus finished last season with 32 tackles and 2 pass deflections and it’s being said that he’s gotten better each day this off-season.
As for the rookies, Diggs will see most of his time, if not all of his time as a nickel back. Alex Carter is a smart and physical player who is drawing comparisons to Richard Sherman, mainly because he went to Stanford but that’s beside the point. Carter will see many reps behind Mathis as he is 35-years-old and might have slowed down a bit from last year. Expect a fast and physical secondary which will cause a lot more turnovers in 2015.
4. The Running Game
Joique Bell is the starter for now but I truly think he’s going to get benched for Ameer Abdullah. The reason being is that Joique has taken a beating over the last two seasons running for the Lions and I don’t think that’ll change this year. He’s not healthy now and he won’t be healthy when the season starts but will somehow be the starter. Maybe it’ll be six weeks or maybe it’ll be ten weeks but eventually Bell’s time will come up as the starter of this backfield. That’s the unfortunate truth and it has been the most common case for the Lions since Barry Sanders retired.
Ameer Abdullah will be a player who should reach 100 carries and 30 to 40 receptions.
Theo Riddick will get his fair share as well. In fact I would think Riddick will be just as productive as Abdullah in the statistic column but like I said, Abdullah will become the eventual starter.
George Winn is the 4th man on the depth chart and will be a special teams player since the Lions were impressed with his play last year.
In a perfect world, the Lions running game can be very comparable to the New Orleans Saints’ backfield from the 2011 season. Joique Bell would be like Mark Ingram (122 carries, 474 yards & 5 touchdowns with 11 receptions & 46 yards). Ameer Abdullah would be like Darren Sproles (87 carries, 603 yards & 2 touchdowns with 86 receptions, 710 yards and 7 touchdowns). Theo Riddick would be like Pierre Thomas (110 carries, 562 yards and 5 touchdowns with 50 receptions, 425 yards and 1 touchdown).
However, if we want to have that perfect world we need a healthy Joique Bell for all 16 games. Needless to say, the offense is on the shoulders of Joique Bell. We can only hope he doesn’t end up like a Kevin Smith or Kevin Jones.
