Should We Blame Quinn, Patricia or Players for Unsuccessful Lions Season?

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Bob Quinn – 50% Slice

This is Bob Quinn’s show, the Lions ownership nor President come from football backgrounds, Quinn is the buck of all football operations, and I think the biggest issue with this team is still talent. It’s both not enough and in cases like Jalen Reeves-Maybin, not the right kind.

His first-round draft picks have been mediocre, his free agency signings have been mediocre – while having to overpay, and outside of Harrison, his trades have been mediocre…with now even Harrison turning to mediocre.

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I think Quinn has done an ‘ok’ job at improving the talent on the bottom and middle of this roster, but the top end talent still isn’t there. Two of the only elite talents on this roster, Stafford and Slay (debatable), weren’t even Quinn additions.

Jamal Agnew was the only Quinn draft pick to make it to a pro-bowl, as a specialist, and even that seems to have been more a flash in the pan than dependable production. While T.J. Lang was the only other Quinn acquisition to make a Pro Bowl, once, that’s it. Golladay is trending in that direction, no cigar yet, deservedly so.

The book is still out on players like Ragnow, Walker, Hockenson, and Tavai, but in (4) years of drafting, you have to draft more than a few promising prospects and Golladay.

Overall, his use of 1st round picks in Taylor Decker, Jarrad Davis, Frank Ragnow & T.J. Hockenson have been underwhelming. Resigning either of his first (2) 1st round picks in Decker & Davis isn’t a given or even something you should be excited about. His last (2) in Ragnow and Hockenson have had some ups and downs but definitely worthy of a 1st round asset at least.

The downfall to the season and the reason I’m writing such a fun piece is the lack of pass rush, which Quinn has refused to address in his four years drafting in Detroit, especially edge pressure. Besides Austin Bryant in the fourth round this past draft, Quinn hasn’t spent a pick higher than a 5th rounder on a pass rusher.

Jeremiah Ledbetter and Anthony Zettel were some low 6 round fliers, but you get what you pay for most of the time right, and right now, the Lions put some money into Trey Flowers, but are broke everywhere else as a pass-rush unit.

Quinn’s biggest mistake was his first decision, in my opinion. Keeping Caldwell delayed any progress as Caldwell was destined to be replaced by a coach with a philosophy that Quinn admitted he felt more comfortable drafting for anyway. The necessary rebuild that comes to a Patricia hire would have also gone over a lot smoother with the fan base if Quinn was upfront about and started it from the beginning.

Now that the plan is finally in action, it looks like there’s a chance Matt Patricia might be in over his head, but it’s naive to come to that conclusion after only 1.5 seasons. Especially when he doesn’t have the personnel to run what he wants successfully yet, also, if Patricia is deemed to over his head, guess who should have known that…Bob Quinn, his friend, and close peer in New England.

Hot. Firing Matt Patricia Prematurely Would Be a Huge Setback. light

Barring anything drastic to close out the season, I’m not calling for regime change yet, as I tend to believe constant turnover and change in NFL front offices and coaching staff can really hinder a franchise from developing into anything or having any identity. But, Quinn has to start making better decisions at the top before anything has a chance to really take off.

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