Why the Detroit Lions will replicate the success of last year's Sacramento Kings
From the "same old Lions", to Kings of the North
We are now just a few days away from the opening kick-off of the ‘23-’24 NFL season, and on paper, this Detroit Lions team is poised to have their best season in over 30 years.
Detroit is coming off a season where things truly began to look up for them. They tripled their win total from the year before, won eight of their last 10 games and had a top five offense in the NFL. But as all rational Lions fans should do, I won’t believe it until I see it. A similar mindset to fans of my favorite NBA team, the Sacramento Kings.
At the start of the previous season, the Kings were in a very similar situation to the one the lions are in now. The team hadn’t seen success in a LONG time, and they were essentially the laughing stock of the league. But a few important things changed and along with them, their success.
For Sacramento, these changes led to them ending the longest active playoff drought in American professional sports — 16 miserable years — and becoming one of the most exciting teams to watch in the entire NBA. The Lions also have a similar drought going. Though they made the playoffs twice in the last 10 years — 2014 and 2016 — Detroit holds the record for most consecutive years without a playoff win in the NFL at 32.
Like their California counterpart, are they also destined to change their image? Will they go from the “same old Lions” to a potential contender?
Here are a couple reasons why the Lions’ changes will allow them to become the “Kings” of the NFL.
This team has talent
To be a good team, you need good players. Simple as that. For the Kings, that talent resides mostly in second-team All-NBA players De’Aaron Fox and Domantas Sabonis. Obviously due to roster size, NFL team’s need much more high end talent than two guys.
For the first time since their aforementioned 2014 squad — which featured Calvin Johnson, Reggie Bush, Golden Tate, Matt Stafford, Ndamukong Suh, Darius Slay and Glover Quin — this Detroit Lions team has some real talent on both sides of the ball.
Offense
Like the NBA team I’ve compared them to, the Lions have one of the league’s more explosive units on this side of the ball. Led by Pro Bowl QB Jared Goff, Detroit boasts one of the league’s top offensive lines anchored by two Pro Bowlers in Center Frank Ragnow and Tackle Penei Sewell. Their running back room, though small, is also talented and features two new faces. Former divisional rival, David Montgomery from the Chicago Bears, and rookie first round pick Jahmyr Gibbs from The University of Alabama.
Gibbs is looking like one of the most promising rookies in this year’s draft class and brings a unique skill set. Not only did the 12th overall pick post the second fastest 40-yard dash at this year’s combine at 4.36 sec, but he has elite catching ability. Gibbs led the Crimson Tide with 44 receptions last year for almost 450 receiving yards and three touchdowns through the air. On the ground, he racked up 926 yards with seven touchdowns. Gibbs provides a Christian McCaffrey, Alvin Kamara esque aspect to the offense. A rare talent and a defense’s worst nightmare.
“We might use Gibbs in some ways that people don't quite think we might.” - Lion’s Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson
Detroit also has some real talent in their WR room. They are led by Pro Bowl Wide Receiver, and arguably the best player on the entire roster, Amon-Ra St. Brown. Last season, he became the first player in NFL history to record eight-plus receptions and a touchdown in six consecutive games.
The group also features speedy sophomore wideout Jameson Williams, who is serving a six-game suspension due to gambling. Though he’s faced some trouble, and a lot of undeserving flack in just one year, I still feel that Williams will turn out to be a dangerous weapon and one of the best deep threats in the NFL.
The Lions also drafted University of Iowa Tight End Sam Laporta in the second round of this year’s draft. Laporta, like many Iowa tight ends before him, was an elite pass catcher in college and is essentially a big body WR.
His last year at Iowa, the team had a historically bad offense scoring just 19 touchdowns and roughly 3200 total yards as a team. Laporta accounted for more than one fourth of their receiving yards. He’s a massive target for Goff and will be effective in the red zone or on play-action.
Defense
Similar to the Sacramento Kings, the Lions biggest issues reside on defense. Last season, the Lions allowed the second most passing yards, and the third most rushing yards of any team. They found two potential stars last year in rookies Aiden Hutchinson — first rookie with 9.5 sacks, 3 ints and 2 fumble recoveries in a single season — and Kerby Joseph, who has the most career ints against Aaron Rodgers of any player. But aside from them, the defense was mostly a group of guys that needed to be replaced, especially in the secondary. And that’s exactly what they did.
The Lions were able to make four major moves to bolster last season’s porous Defensive Back unit. They signed Safety CJ Gardner-Johnson, who was tied for the most ints last season, as well as talented Corners Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Mosley.
The fourth acquisition was the man who will go down as the steal of the draft in the second round All-American from the University of Alabama, Brian Branch. Similar to Gardner-Johnson, Branch can play both Safety and Corner. He even played a little linebacker and snuck in some defensive end while in college. In Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn’s scheme, Branch will be playing the Nickel position. A hybrid DB that can do it all in coverage, and help out in the box due to his ability to make open field tackles. He is simply there to be a hindrance to the offense no matter the play type.
The Lions doubled down on collegiate athletes again, picking All-American Linebacker, and Butkus Award winner, Jack Campbell from the University of Iowa as their second pick of the first round.
Yes they drafted two players from Alabama and two from Iowa with their first four picks.
Campbell is not the most athletically gifted. However, he is smart, strong and has a nose for the football. He reminds me a lot of former Carolina Panther and Hall of Fame LB Luke Kuechly. Campbell is a natural leader and acts as the QB of the defense. In what was a subpar LB group last season, he should step right in as the clear number one over Alex Anzalone and improve this unit in many ways.
Coaching and Front office leadership
Arguably the most important reason the Sacramento Kings turned things around was from the hirings of Head Coach Mike Brown and GM Monte McNair.
For the Lions, changes were made at those two positions back in 2021 with the hiring of Head Coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes. It took a few years for the roster to be rid of the bad decisions from the previous regime, but the team is now officially theirs.
While Brad Holmes has been crucial with key draft picks like St. Brown, Sewell and Hutchinson, as well as being able to bring in a big name like Gardner-Johnson in free-agency, the key is Dan Campbell. It doesn’t matter what the roster looks like if they’re talent isn’t fostered and the schemes are horrible.
If you don’t know anything about him, Dan Campbell is who comes up in the dictionary next to the word football.
He embodies the grit he asks his team to play with. He even works out with the players during training camp. And as a former NFL player, he is able to relate to his team in ways a lot of coaches can’t. It’s clear that he makes sure the team feels like a family and not a bunch of coworkers.
People simply just want to play for him. Even stars across the NFL like Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs have been quoted raving about Campbell. He knows how to bring the best out of players and can get them to that next level.
The North is wide open
Even with all their similarities, there is one thing the Lions can capitalize on that the Kings don’t have the luxury of facing. The Kings play in the NBA’s Pacific Division, which was the only division in American sports last season where every single team made the playoffs. Every team outside of the Kings also has a player on their roster that’s won an MVP, Finals MVP or both.
The NFC North, home of the Lions, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, is currently there for the taking. The division has been dominated by the Packers since 2002, winning it 12 times. But, all three of the Lions’ rivals have claimed the title King of the North at least four times since ‘02. The Lions on the other hand, haven’t won the division since 1993.
30 years…
But things are looking up. The Vikings are unreliable and lost key players, the Packers lost their franchise’s best player of all time in Aaron Rodgers and are now in the hands of a Jordan Love who hasn’t seen a ton of action, and the Bears have a lot of question marks surrounding them.
Now is the time for the Lions to seize the moment. And I’m not the only one that thinks that. The Lions currently have the best odds to win the division at +190 and many analysts agree that they are the favorite in the NFC North.
“They’ve got draft picks, they’re going to get better. They’ve got a coach. They’ve got an atmosphere. They’ve got everything. The Detroit Lions — ready for some team that’s going to be like holy *bleep*, this team’s in the Super Bowl? The Lions. That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.” - Kyle Brandt NFL Network
For the first time since the Barry Sanders era, there is serious hype around this team and people are noticing. The NFL even gave the Lions four primetime games this season, including the opener against the Chiefs. Is the hype warranted? Will they end their own drought?
Like I said earlier. I won’t believe it ‘til I see it.