The way the Lions closed the 2022 season raised the bar for the team heading into this season and the NFL didn’t do anything to downplay that when they announced the schedule earlier this year.
Opening night will see the Lions in Kansas City to face the Chiefs on Thursday night at Arrowhead Stadium and putting the NFC North team in that spot only feeds into the feeling that they will be a playoff contender. Some players might prefer to fly under the radar, but wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown isn’t running away from the pressure that comes with high expectations.
“My rookie year, we went 3-13-1, [Lions fans] were still there for us ,” St. Brown said, via Gilbert Manzano of SI.com. “And now the hype is crazy. When I go back for OTAs and whatnot, you go to the grocery store, you go to the restaurant, whatever you’re doing that day. If a fan sees you, they’re super excited. They have big expectations, but I feel like no matter what, they’re always going to be there for us. That’s something, as a player, I really appreciate, because there’s definitely those bandwagon fans that you see with the big teams that win a lot.”
The Lions haven’t made the playoffs since 2016, so it’s no surprise that there’s a lot of hunger for a winner in Detroit. If they get one, that bandwagon will likely start filling up ahead of the 2024 campaign.
Lions receiver Jameson Williams played only six games last season as he worked his way back from a torn ACL. He will miss the first six games of this season while serving a suspension for violating the NFL’s gambling policy.
The Lions aren’t concerned about Williams’ on-field play.
Lions receivers coach Antwaan Randle El, though, has become a mentor for Williams as the young receiver navigates adversity off the field.
“I don’t have to motivate him much when it comes to ball. He loves the game and wants to be better and works at it,” Randle El told Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News. “But the encouragement part, with all that’s going on, . . . it’s just, ‘Hey, keep doing what you’re doing; stay at it, in terms of working hard. This is just another stumbling block that, again, you’ll come out stronger on the other side.’
“Those types of things, just encouraging him from that standpoint. He gets it; he understands it; and it will be [good] for him once we do get back and get going, as it relates into the season and the preseason.”
The Lions traded up to select the former Alabama star with the 12th overall pick in 2022. He finished his rookie season with only one catch for a 41-yard touchdown, playing 78 offensive snaps and one on special teams.
Williams’ rookie season mainly entailed " a lot of mental reps.” He will get to practice with the team in training camp and play in the preseason before his suspension begins in Week 1 of the regular season.
“It’s just a matter of him being on the field over and over again,” Randle El said. “Man, that’s part of having that offseason, and that’s why you always want a young guy to have the offseason to just be able to get ready for the season. . . . Training camp is coming up. Again, another opportunity on the field, being with the quarterbacks, hearing the calls, all those different things that need to take place over and over again. You can see he’s getting it.”
The poor playing surface of Super Bowl LVII continues to be an issue from time to time. Eagles fans generally don’t want to be reminded of it, since it brings back bad memories of the loss. Chiefs fans generally don’t want to hear it, since it potentially undermines the win.
It recently came up after Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham said the Chiefs’ offensive line was “blessed” by the subpar footing on grass that didn’t perform the way it should. That prompted our report that the league has privately blamed the Super Bowl slip-n-slide on the players for not wearing the right shoes. And as that story got traction on Monday, former Eagles (now Lions) safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson chimed in.
“Man pre-game I went through 3 different cleats!!” Gardner-Johnson tweeted. “Even the studs wasn’t working explain that please.”
Added Gardner-Johnson: “Run that bowl back on legit grass, the Dline SMASH that Oline I’m sorry.”
The idea that the bad grass affected both teams equally ignores the differences between them. The Eagles had a much better pass rush. And the slippery field took just enough steam out of the pass rush to give Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes enough time to find open receivers.
The NFL on Thursday suspended three more players indefinitely for betting on NFL games.
Isaiah Rodgers, Rashod Berry and Demetrius Taylor bring the number of players suspended for gambling on NFL games to seven over the past two years.
Receiver Calvin Ridley was reinstated after missing the 2022 season and will return this season with the Jaguars after a trade from the Falcons.
Safety C.J. Moore, receiver Quintez Cephus and defensive end Shaka Toney previously received suspensions of at least a year.
The Colts waived Rodgers and Berry on Thursday. Taylor is a free agent. The Lions waived Cephus and Moore after their suspensions.
Toney remains with the Commanders.
In addition, the NFL has suspended three players for non-NFL bets at the team facility.
Titans offensive tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere, Lions receiver Jameson Williams and free agent receiver Stanley Berryhill will miss at least the first six games of this season. Berryhill was with Detroit at the time of his suspension, but the Lions cut him soon after.
The question now is: Are any more suspensions coming?
The Lions did not add any edge rushers to their roster this offseason, but they’ll be getting one back after a season-ending injury last year.
Charles Harris was placed on injured reserve in November due to a groin injury that forced him to miss 11 games over the course of the entire season. Harris had one sack and a forced fumble in his six appearances, but had 7.5 sacks when healthy during the 2021 season and outside linebackers coach Dave Corrao thinks having him back at full speed will make a positive impact on their defensive performance.
“A healthy Charles Harris is going to make us a much better defense ,” Corrao said in an interview with Tim Twentyman of the team’s website.
Harris’ unavailability helped open the door for James Houston to spark the team’s pass rush and the hope in Detroit is that both players will be able to get the defense going this time around.