Detroit Lions: ESPN continues to disrespect the franchise

ESPN recently released it’s latest ‘future’ power rankings, and the Detroit Lions finished precisely where you’d expect the network to put them, near the bottom.

It doesn’t matter which network you put on the tube to start your morning while you sip your first cup of joe and nibble on your breakfast; the national outlook surrounding the Detroit Lions will remain the same; bad. You will get the same negativity from both local and national radio stations during your daily commute.

It’s not going to be a common theme from me to bring up all of the negative opinions from the likes of FOX, ESPN, CBS, and NFL Network personalities. This is the second of two, last week I provided the world with a little rant Colin Cowherd gave us on his nationally syndicated FS1 show (The Herd) after he named eleven current NFL quarterbacks who could lead their team to a Super Bowl leaving Matthew Stafford off of the list but providing us with players like Matt Ryan, Jared Goff, and Jimmy Garoppolo.

This time it’s ESPN foolishly disrespecting the Detroit Lions in their latest edition of the leagues’ ‘future’ power rankings.

More from Detroit Lions

In an article published by the Detroit Free Press, the format is explained.

The network’s football experts ranked each team’s front office, head coach, roster, draft, and quarterback on a percentage scale. The scores were determined by weighting the averages of each category, in this format: Roster (30%), quarterback (20%), draft (15%), front office (15%) and coaching (20%).

Unlike Cowherd, ESPN did give Stafford a solid 81.5% mark, but the remainder of the organization really didn’t grade out well. The network feels like many of us about the 2020 Detroit Lions draft rewarding the organization with a respectable 75.8%. After that, things get very ugly. The front office, which produced that potential stellar draft, only received a 68.3% grade; the current roster manufactured just a 67.5% mark despite having what I consider to be a top-12 offense. That leaves Matt Patricia and his coaching staff; the group only compiled a 65.8% ranking, the worst of the complete assessment.

The overall percentages land the Detroit Lions as the 25th ranked team in the NFL, compiling an overall mark of 71.3. Here’s the thing, although Stafford received an excellent grade, you could argue that percentage point could easily be 85%. If the draft results turn out the way we expect, that mark could jump to 80%, in turn, moving the front office-grade to possibly 75%. That strengthens the overall roster moving that into the 70s, and that leaves the ball in the coaching staff’s court.

dark. Next. 3 remaining free agents to avoid signing this offseason

We were fed that Matt Patricia was a defensive genius, well we are entering year three, it’s time to prove it. This is the year we need to see this Detroit Lions defense begin to thrive. If that happens, the Detroit Lions will quickly go from being ranked 25th to the middle of the pack, and that’s where we expect to be in year three of this organization overhaul.

Home/Detroit Lions