NFL Executives Rank Detroit Lions Worst Team in NFC
At least one of the five NFL executives polled in a recent Athletic article did not vote that the Detroit Lions were the worst team in the NFC.
Unfortunately, the other four ranked the Lions 16th out of the 16 NFC teams ahead of the 2021 NFL season.
According to the tally, the five executives voted the Lions 13-16-16-16-16.
"The Lions are easy to write off based on their history and new coach Dan Campbell’s sometimes humorously over-the-top news conferences. One voter did place Detroit a few spots higher than the others, however," NFL writer Mike Sando explained. "This voter cited a strong offensive line that should provide a reliable, important building block for the team as Campbell creates a new identity following a rough run under previous coach Matt Patricia."
One executive who did not vote in the poll told Sando that Campbell sounded like a professional wrestler, but could also be acting in a way for others to mislead and underestimate him.
Upon first glance, the team assembled by general manager Brad Holmes appears to quite young, but that was not the intended goal, according to the comments made by Campbell in a recent media session with reporters.
"I’ve said this before but Brad (Holmes) just said it, we’re not looking for the youngest guys possible. Certainly, if you have talent and you’re young and hungry, it’s hard to ignore those guys," Campbell said. "That’s what we feel like we’ve got a lot of. We’ve said it before, we were looking for the right guys for us and the way we want to be built."
Campbell commented further, "When mistakes are made, they’re not repeated. If you do that and they stay young and hungry and they’re eager and continue to put the work out -- I think we have coaches that can develop them -- good things will come sooner or later. I would rather make that move than I would some guys that maybe know what’s going on, but they’re past their due, they don’t have anymore. It’s not worth it. That’s where we’re at.”
The Lions have their first opportunity to prove everyone wrong next week, as they kick off the 2021 season at home against the San Francisco 49ers.
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