After A Wild Detroit Lions Offseason, A Look At What Bob Quinn’s Philosophy Means For This Team.
Bob Quinn did very little to address the pass rush in both free agency and the NFL Draft. He made a couple of early signings at the linebacker position, handed Ezekiel Ansah the franchise tag and brought in Sylvester Williams, a player who doesn’t project to add much in the way of pass rush.
When free agency ended and the Lions left mostly empty handed in the pass rush department, fans set their sights on the 2018 NFL Draft. Players like Harold Landry, Marcus Davenport, Taven Bryan, Vita Vea, and Lorenzo Carter started popping up in mock drafts everywhere. Analysts didn’t know what position the Lions favored, as long as they could rush the passer.
The NFL Draft came and went and the closest thing that the Lions found to a pass rusher was fourth round selection, Da’Shawn Hand, a player that didn’t do much pass rushing in college. The Lions passed on a good deal of pass rushing talent to address other positions, most notably the offensive line and the running back positions. So why didn’t the Lions address the pass rush?
The Lions strong focus on the offensive side of the ball in the NFL Draft was interesting to me. If there has been one side of the ball that the Lions could count on since the departure of Suh, it has been the offense. Generally you see teams improve the side of the ball that they are weakest on. The Lions did the opposite and bolstered their strongest phase of the game.
Matt Patricia has been hailed as a defensive genius and was brought in to maximize talent on that side of the ball. In free agency, the Lions made early priority signings to bring in linebackers and resigned a few guys to solidify their secondary. Outside of that, the Lions did very little investing in the defensive side of the ball.
I believe the thought here is that Matt Patricia has what he needs to be successful on defense. It seems as though Bob Quinn believes that he did enough with the Detroit Lions offseason to give Patricia the pieces that he needs. It doesn’t appear to be an ideal scenario and I don’t believe that Quinn or Patricia believe it to be one but if you have a coach that can maximize talent on the defensive side of the ball, you can get by with a little less talent. I think that is the philosophy here.
My personal takeaways from this philosophy are as follows:
1. Bob Quinn has faith in Matt Patricia.
2. Matt Patricia believes that he has the necessary pieces to be successful on defense.
3. Bob Quinn is committed to giving Matthew Stafford a running game.
4. Bobb Quinn will continue to show a commitment to bringing in offensive line talent.
Overall, I take no issues with this philosophy. I certainly wasn’t expecting it but I can’t say I disagree. This all hinges on Matt Patricia being as good as advertised. If he truly has all of the pieces that he needs to be even moderately successful on the defensive side of the ball, this looks like a fantastic Detroit Lions offseason. If the team continues to struggle defensively and Quinn misjudged Patricia’s ability to make due with the guys they have on the roster, this Detroit Lions offseason looks mismanaged.
Thanks for checking out the article everyone. Go Lions! You can follow me on Twitter @Lanny1925 and be sure to join the community on the Detroit Lions subreddit.
