To get to Super Bowl LIX, the Detroit Lions need to make three moves.
These are the three offseason decisions the Detroit Lions need to make if they hope to return to the Super Bowl the following season, after coming agonizingly short this year.
Before the 2023 season began, the Detroit Lions were the talk of the town. Was their ability to live up to such expectations? With a division title, two playoff victories, a 12-5 regular season record, and a trip to the NFC Championship Game, the answer was unquestionably yes.
But in the end, the Lions were unable to win the Super Bowl after shockingly losing the NFC Championship Game to the San Francisco 49ers 24-7 at halftime.
To the dismay of the “take the points” camp, Dan Campbell’s aggression on fourth down did not alter in the biggest game of the season. However, the Lions would not have progressed as far as they did without that aggression. Had it succeeded, Campbell would have been hailed as a hero.
The Lions are now focused on taking the “next step” in their quest to make it to or perhaps win a Super Bowl. In the upcoming years, consider doing it more than once—let’s not get greedy, though. There may be a bullseye put on specific positions that require an upgrade this offseason because the team only has a small list of major needs—though there might be a big, sneaky one if free agent losses pile up there.
To make the Super Bowl the following year, the Detroit Lions need to make three changes.
Will the Detroit Lions employ the franchise tag in 2024 NFL Free Agency?
A little more than a month separates us from the opening of NFL free agency, and the Detroit Lions have some big choices to make among the 20 unrestricted free agents. If they’re not prepared to pay that price, some might just look elsewhere for more experience and money, which would force the Lions to look for other choices.
The Lions have only ever utilized the franchise tag four times since it was introduced.
Based on the average of the top five wages at a position, it’s a fully guaranteed one-year investment with either non-exclusive or exclusive designations about the power a player’s original organization has over his capacity to bargain with other teams. Additionally, if a player’s original team doesn’t match another team’s offer, they are not entitled to draft pick compensation. As a result, the transition tag is rarely used.
Here is a refresher on the 20 unrestricted free agents that the Lions have this year as a starting point for their franchise tag conversation.
Naturally, Bridgewater is stepping down to accept the position of head coach at his former high school, and Vaitai is considering retirement after suffering a back ailment for the second consecutive season.
Who else might be on this list as potential franchise tag candidates? Jackson? Glasgow? Johnson-Gardner? And they are not happening based on the salaries that would be fixed in the event that a multi-year agreement is not reached by mid-July.
That being said, Pro Football Focus has failed to identify a 2024 franchise tag contender for the Lions in their quest to identify one for each team.
The Lions will therefore forgo using the franchise tag for another season, if only because they lack somebody who makes sense for it.
