00:00Chance to win Bruno Mars tickets in the 7 o'clock hour today.
00:03A chance every day this week for the show coming up early May.
00:09John's power surge hot off the presses just after the draft.
00:14His number one team is the LA Rams followed by the Seattle Seahawks.
00:19Bills, Broncos, Dallas Cowboys, and LA Chargers round out his Super 6.
00:25The team's just outside. Quite a few, but I'll highlight no Ravens, no Eagles, and no Lions.
00:34Yeah, in the top six, right?
00:35Yes, so no Lions. We like the draft. Are they a contender or not?
00:43Yeah, they're a contender, sure. Especially with, I mean, we saw what New England did with the last play schedule
00:48last year.
00:50I mean, why can't the Lions do the same thing? That may put them in the playoffs.
00:54And it may win the division. Now we're going to discuss a little bit, okay, who's the best team in
00:59the division?
01:00Who did the most this offseason? How are teams better or worse than they were last year?
01:04But I think the Detroit Lions have done enough.
01:11And you can't address every single need.
01:13And we knew coming into the draft, even after free agency, like, hey, edge defender, linebacker, safety, corner.
01:19Like, there were a lot of needs, more defensively than offensively, but they addressed the offensive line in free agency.
01:27They addressed the offensive line in the draft in the first round with Blake Miller.
01:31And I'm looking at it going, you know what, this is a team that I expect to win the division.
01:38Some of it is just pure talent that they have.
01:42And the fact that I think they're going to be a top five off, a legit top five offense this
01:46year,
01:47because they'll be able to run the ball more effectively against good defenses than they did last year.
01:53They'll be able to protect Jared Goff more effectively in key situations than they did last year.
02:00I'm smiling because you and I both expect this team to win the division.
02:03There's not going to be a big fight about this.
02:06I think you're right.
02:07The offensive line got some serious attention, some serious love, and it'll pay dividends down the line.
02:13They also aren't going to face as many great defenses.
02:16They're going to face Arizona and Tennessee and Miami and the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints.
02:21They're going to play a last place schedule.
02:23I think it is going to bump them up a couple wins.
02:24And as I look around the landscape of this division, I hated what the Bears did this offseason.
02:30They lost both impact safeties in Bayard and Brisker.
02:34They lost their slot corner who forced a lot of takeaways in Nashawn Wright.
02:38They lost their starting linebacker in Tremaine Edmonds.
02:41And did they add any teeth to the pass rush?
02:43No, they're bitching about it over in Chicago.
02:45They didn't get to the quarterback last year.
02:47They lived on turnovers.
02:48And now they're subbing out much of that back end of the defense.
02:51Not to mention, what happened to their center?
02:55Retirement.
02:56And they're going to downgrade in the interior of the offensive line.
02:58We feel like the Lions have upgraded on the interior of the offensive line.
03:01So, look, you got Caleb Williams, and that'll always be a threat as he gets better.
03:05But I don't think they had a good offseason in a windy city.
03:07And then how about the Green Bay Packers, often a thorn in our side?
03:10You shipped Rashawn Gary out of town.
03:12Did they address that in a meaningful way?
03:14No.
03:14No?
03:14How about losing two starters on their offensive line?
03:17You think that's going to hurt a LeFleur offense that wants to run to set up Love?
03:20Yes, that'll hurt them.
03:22So, I look at two teams that are contenders for the North and think Lions had a better offseason than
03:28both of them.
03:29Now, the wild card is Minnesota.
03:31I've said I think Kyler Murray is going to be a dangerous player in Kevin O'Connell's offense.
03:36But they're shedding multiple impact defensive veterans this offseason, right?
03:40They send Grenard out to Philadelphia.
03:42They lose Hargrave on the interior of their defensive line.
03:45The Lions are poised, and I expect them to win the NFC North.
03:51Who do you think is the biggest threat?
03:53Do you think it's Minnesota?
03:54Just because of the upside of Kevin O'Connell with the most talented quarterback he's had since Cousins, right?
04:00And he's more talented physically than Kirk Cousins.
04:04That would be their path to winning like 10 to 12 games as if Kyler reimagines his career.
04:10If Kyler does what we've seen a lot of these other quarterbacks do, Sam Darnold moves on to greener pastures,
04:16right?
04:16And has success.
04:18And Baker Mayfield moves on, former number one pick.
04:21Jared Goff moves on, former number one pick.
04:22If Kyler's the latest in that line, they're our biggest threat.
04:26I'm just...
04:27The doubts that I have are...
04:30Why didn't it work in Arizona?
04:33And some of it was...
04:34Last year, it was like he was just hurt.
04:36They're also a bad organization.
04:38Well, they're a bad organization, but even when they had him playing at his best, they were good for about
04:448 to 10 games.
04:45He got them in the playoffs one year.
04:47Oh, man.
04:48Well, again, I'm not saying they're a Super Bowl team.
04:51So, my issue is leadership from that position.
04:54Yeah.
04:55Because what did we say about him when they came to Detroit?
04:58Like, he's sitting there pouting on the sidelines.
05:00If that carries over, this is also an offense with Kevin O'Connell that you have to study in.
05:07You have to be a smart quarterback.
05:10And I think if he applies himself, then yeah, that's a big concern of what Minnesota is doing.
05:16I don't know.
05:17No, I can't look at it and say, I trust that he's going to apply himself in a new offense.
05:22And it's an offense that you actually have to pay attention.
05:26Well, let's say he's a mental midget.
05:27Then there's one less team I consider a threat in the North, right?
05:30Like, you're only going to make the point even stronger that this is the Lions division to go win this
05:35season
05:35if you don't view Minnesota as a real threat.
05:38Because I don't like what the Bears and Packers did.
05:40Now, a Twitch comment says the Lions' pass defense is awful.
05:44This division is going to throw on them.
05:46That does reinforce that they're going to need good news from these safeties.
05:49They're going to need good news from the safeties.
05:52They're going to need Roger McCreary.
05:56They're going to need some of these corners to step up and maybe play above their head.
06:02DJ Reed has to get back to what he does best.
06:06And he has to be back to pre-hamstring injury last year.
06:09He was having a pretty good season.
06:10He's not an all-pro or pro bowler, but he was having a quality season.
06:14But when is Brian Branch back?
06:17What are you getting from 17 games of Kirby Joseph?
06:21How do they manage?
06:23Do you get 17 games from Kirby Joseph?
06:25Yeah, I think these are maybe your biggest concerns on defense.
06:28Yeah.
06:29Terryon Arnold, are you going to grow?
06:32Those are concerns.
06:33But I do believe the pass rush should be better.
06:38And whether it's a combination on one side of DJ Wanham, Derek Moore, insert a number of different guys.
06:47But Aiden Hutchinson, another year now removed from the injury.
06:52He had a good year last year.
06:54Lee McNeil, another year removed from the ACL.
06:56Should be much better.
06:59Tyreek Williams, second year.
07:02There's a chance that this front could be really good at stopping the run and applying more pressure.
07:082-4-8-5-3-9-97-97.
07:11We want to get feedback on where the Lions stand in the NFL hierarchy.
07:15John left them out of the power surge, but he and I both feel like this is the team to
07:18win the NFC North
07:19as we collect ourselves post-free agency and now, more importantly, post-draft.
07:24Because that's the thing.
07:24Free agency felt a little light.
07:26The draft helped address more of those needs.
07:29Where are you at with the Lions as we sit in late April?
07:32Get to the Pistons in the 7 o'clock hour as well.
07:34It's 97-1.
07:35Have a good one.
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