Six Detroit Lions players the national media are sleeping on

The national media have far too much to cover. They can’t be expected to fully understand all 32 teams. Here are the Detroit Lions they are missing out on.

Every year in the NFL there is a crop of players that catch the national media by surprise. Recently the USA today brain-trust decided that the Detroit Lions were a six-and-10 team. I am not going to link you to that article, rather to Lionswire’s statement that they have nothing to do with the USA today’s national coverage of the team. They are a good group of guys, don’t take it out on them.

There is a problem faced by all writers that have to cover all 32 teams in the NFL. Their wide focus makes it hard for them to anticipate change. Most of them did not watch 16 games played by each of the 32 teams. Most have certainly not gone over all 256 games of the 2017 regular season with a fine-toothed comb.

National writers are operating off of limited information. The lack of time and the limits of the human mind to retain and process information are guaranteed to make them miss a few things. They are operating off of general impressions and looking for splash moves when analyzing a team’s offseason.

The Detroit Lions did not make any splash moves. Their first-round pick was an interior offensive lineman. This is the least sexy offseason I have seen in a long time from the Lions. The biggest move the team made was cutting Eric Ebron.

The team has finally embraced the idea that they need to be a draft and develop the team. They have focused on bringing inexpensive free agents on board and getting their own talent ready to go. They have not handed anyone anything, the team has good depth, but GM Bob Quinn has put a lot of young players in a situation to be successful.

Here are the five Lions that the national media are sleeping on in 2018. Not being familiar with these players is the reason those national figures are so pessimistic about a team that has gone 18-14 in the last two seasons.