In today’s NFL there is no offseason. After the dust settled from the botched call in Dallas that ended the Detroit Lions season, the business of evaluating the season and assessing the personnel for the 2015 season began.
In their season ending press conferences Jim Caldwell and Martin Mayhew both expressed urgency on the issue of signing Ndamukong Suh. Caldwell said signing Suh was priority for the club calling him a “Heck of a player.” Martin Mayhew took it a step further by saying he had a conversation with Suh in which the two parties expressed mutal admiration for each other.
"We talked about that on Monday, had a good conversation with him. He wants to be here and we want him to be here. As I said before, I think that’s a pretty good combination. We’ll see how it all plays out.”"
But the real news out of the press conferences wasn’t about Suh or the blown call in Dallas but rather the rather significant changes the Lions seem to be planning on the offensive side of the ball in 2015.
Jim Caldwell and Martin Mayhew seem to be under the impression that to fix the offense the Lions assemble offensive groupings that have the ability to “play with pace.”
This was Mayhews response when asked about Caldwell’s comments about designing specific personnel groups:
"“I mean, I’m obviously on board with what Coach Caldwell said. He and Joe are very experienced in terms of running an offense, much more experienced than I am. So, we talk about our needs offensively, I discuss it with them and with our scouting staff and we move forward based off what they say that they need. I’m not going to make any determination based off what I think we should be doing offensively that doesn’t include him.”"
Pace can be defined in a couple of ways but usally includes a blend physical speed and awareness. Because the press corp didn’t follow this line of questioning we can only assume that the players needed to assemeble these personnel groupings aren’t currently on the roster. Martin Mayhew gives validity to this line of thinking when he was aksed about changes that need to be made based on the Lions last two losses.
"“We have to get better from a talent standpoint. We have to be a better football team. I think we’re a good football team right now, but we’re not a great football team. We have to be able to go and win at Green Bay, which we have not done in a long time. Having a bye and having a home game would have obviously helped us in terms of the playoffs and advancing. In those games, the other team played better than we played and we lost. What I take away from that is that we have to do a good job this offseason of making our football team better.”"
So putting two and two together, the Detroit Lions have to get faster and more talented on offense. So what changes can we expect? Caldwell and Mayhew have already expressed their approval of Matthews Stafford and his “progress” in 2014 , so don’t expect an major changes. But that doesn’t mean some of the big names fans have gotten used to over the years are locks to be on the roster in 2015.
If the Lions are looking for consistency and speed in the offense there are a number of players that do not fit that mold going forward. Dominic Raiola, Rob Sims and Garrett Reynolds might be some of the older and slower offensive linemen that could be on the chopping block this off-season as the Lions look to get younger and faster up front. Injury prone players like Reggie Bush and Joseph Fauria could also be on their way out of mo-town after turning in poor seasons amid high expectations.
Even after signing Suh the Detroit Lions improve the team by adding more talent and depth to the roster. Who is cut and what the new offensive personnel groups will look like remains to be seen but it is clear after watching the season ending press conferences; big changes are coming to the Detroit Lions offense.