On Tuesday, we discussed the biggest weaknesses on the Detroit Lions’ 53-man roster. I picked the cornerback room—and a lot of you agreed—but I thought it was interesting to see how many of you were concerned about the depth at skill position. With the Lions going light on wide receiver, Isiah Pacheco’s injury, and some questions about the tight end depth (before Tyler Conklin re-signed), it’s a fair point. Of course, most teams don’t have the crazy amount of top-end talent that the Lions do at the skill positions,
either.
Speaking of crazy talent, the Lions do have a fair amount of that. So today, let’s focus on the biggest strengths on the Lions’ 53-man roster and practice squad. Today’s Question of the Day is:
Where is the Lions’ roster the strongest?
My answer: If we’re talking about the best room from top to bottom, I think it would be hard to match the talent in the defensive line room.
For one, they have a bunch of high-end talent that this regime has spent top resources on:
- First-round pick Aidan Hutchinson
- First-round pick Tyleik Williams
- Second-round pick Derrick Moore
- Alim McNeill, given a four-year $97 million contract
On top of that, the Lions have plugged resources into the depth. Be it former second-round pick Levi Onwuzurike, free agent signing DJ Wonnum, or late-round picks in Ahmed Hassanein, Mekhi Wingo, and Skyler Gill-Howard, Detroit clearly has wanted to improve that room for years.
There are still a lot of questions about the unit. Can McNeill return to pre-ACL surgery form? How will Moore look in his rookie season? Can Williams take a Year 2 jump? Who amongst those late-round picks will emerge as regular contributors? Plugging resources into a position doesn’t necessarily guarantee success, but the early returns from training camp have been promising, and the vision is clear.
Which position group do you think is the strongest on the roster right now? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
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