Lions Digest 1: OTAs start, high praise from PFF and Mahogany's OL coach chats
The Lions roster shows up for the true start of the offseason program this week
Welcome to the first ever Detroit Lions Digest, the weekly Bird’s Eye Football newsletter for the Detroit Lions. Here is everything you need to know about the Lions both on and off of Bird’s Eye.
It’s a big week for the Detroit Lions as they kick off OTAs, along with the rest of the NFL. For the first time, nearly the entire Lions 2024 roster will be at the same place at the same time. Media visibility will be limited, but there will be some inklings of information that will creep out in the coming weeks that we can pull from. For example, Dan Campbell showed up after missing rookie camp last week.
The big stories:
Bird’s Eye Football’s offseason QB Power Rankings came out this week. You already know who was at #1, but for the first time in a very long time, there really isn’t a definitive second-best quarterback in the league. With just one real transcendent talent in the NFL, the rest of the top 10 felt pretty wide open.
Find out where Jared Goff ranked and how the rest of the top 40 shook out.
Bird’s Eye Football’s profile on Christian Mahogany, the highly touted day 3 guard they landed in their hometown NFL draft. We spoke to Matt Applebaum, a former NFL offensive line coach who coached the young guard at Boston College.
Mahogany was on top of the world heading into the 2022 season, before a knee injury derailed his life and sent his stock start spiraling down. Applebaum remains hopeful, however.
More from Bird’s Eye Football:
A Whole Team of Carlton Davis - The Lions have three new additions at cornerback that are remarkably similar — in playstyle and personality
When Hating Wins - Sometimes you want to see a win team just because it means that someone else loses
The Cruelty of NFL Schedule Makers - The Baltimore Ravens will not be able to turn a fresh page this offseason, just as the Carolina Panthers weren't eight years ago
Lions notes:
The Athletic’s Mike Sando named the addition of DJ Reader his favorite move the Lions made this offseason
PFF put out its top 25 players under 25, and a staggering 5 Detroit Lions featured, including Penei Sewell (1), Aidan Hutchinson (6), Amon-Ra St. Brown (11), Sam LaPorta (19), and Jahmyr Gibbs (21). Hutchinson is much higher than I would have expected, but St. Brown should also be higher, in my opinion.
Having struck out on Lions’ offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, the Washington Commanders chose to pick out another player in Detroit’s front office.
ESPN’s Mina Kimes ranked Dan Campbell the seventh best head coach in the NFL. Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur beat him by one spot
ESPN also named the Lions the “team least likely to doubt Jared Goff”