Detroit Free Press

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press The only way to consistently win big in the NFL is to have a quarterback. Not an above-average one like Jared Goff, or even a good one like Matthew Stafford. To really win in the NFL, to be a perennial Super Bowl contender, you need a true difference-maker at the

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Marvin Jones wants a chance to win a championship, and with the Detroit Lions entering rebuilding mode, that makes a return to Detroit unlikely when Jones hits free agency next month. Jones said Thursday on SiriusXM NFL radio that “nothing’s off the table” as far as where he plays next season,

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press The Super Bowl is over, free agency is a month away and the quarterback shuffling has begun. Which quarterbacks go where will have a significant influence on what teams do in April’s 2021 NFL draft, but now seems like as good a time as any for my first mock draft of the

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Antwaan Randle El is trading in a chance to repeat as Super Bowl champions with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the opportunity to have his own position group with the Detroit Lions. The Lions finalized their coaching staff Wednesday by announcing Randle El, an offensive assistant with the Bucs the

Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press If all goes according to plan, Jared Goff will begin his career as a Detroit Lions quarterback in about a month when the Matthew Stafford trade becomes official. After examining Goff’s five best performances during his five-year career with the Los Angeles Rams, let’s look at his five worst performances. Something

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press The outgoing Detroit Lions quarterback is helping his replacement get acquainted to town. Matthew Stafford said Monday on “The Mitch Albom Show” that he and L.A. Rams quarterback Jared Goff have exchanged text messages recently about their new homes. The Lions agreed to trade Stafford to the Rams for Goff

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Yes men are a no go for new Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell. The time spent with a retired Navy SEAL helped reinforce his long-held belief that transparency and honest feedback are core principles in any successful program. “I think there’s a lot of people nowadays that have a hard

Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press If all goes according to plan, Jared Goff will begin his career as a Detroit Lions quarterback in about a month. So let’s take a look at his five best performances in his five-year career with the Los Angeles Rams. This list isn’t based solely on raw statistics. Weight is

Mitch Albom | Detroit Free Press Matthew Stafford goes all out. If he plays football, he plays to the dying breath. If he’s with his kids, he’s totally with his kids. If he vacations, he truly vacations. And if he talks, — really talks — he’ll talk about everything. We had one of those talks

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Carson Wentz is on the trade market. Sam Darnold might join him. Aaron Rodgers sent smoke signals that not all is right in Green Bay. Russell Wilson caused his own five-alarm fire in Seattle. And who knows how things shake out with Deshaun Watson. This offseason could feature unprecedented quarterback

Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press I’d like to offer my sincere congratulations to two people. The first is for former Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson upon his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The second is for Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp, who finally took matters into her

Slone Terranella | Detroit Free Press As NFL quarterback Matthew Stafford prepares to leave the Detroit Lions and join his new team in Los Angeles, the Stafford family couldn’t depart Detroit without leaving a piece of them here. Stafford and his wife, Kelly, pledged $1 million to help build a new education center with SAY Detroit, a nonprofit

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Anthony Lynn had two winning records in his four seasons as Los Angeles Chargers coach. He made the playoffs in 2018 and won a wild-card game — on the road. And last season, he won seven games, including four straight to end the year, with a rookie quarterback. The Chargers fired

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press They tried the Tampa 2 and the wide nine and whatever the hell that was the past three seasons, all with limited success. Now, new Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is taking a different approach to building a defense, one that’s not totally unique and might actually work.

Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press Free Press sports writer Carlos Monarrez answers three questions after the Detroit Lions‘ new coordinators met with the media on Wednesday: What was your first impressions of the top four assistant coaches? They were colorful and enthusiastic, following the example set by head coach Dan Campbell — minus any

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press The Detroit Lions signed tight end Alize Mack to a futures deal Thursday. Mack was a seventh-round pick by the New Orleans Saints in 2019, where he played briefly for new Lions coach Dan Campbell. He was waived at the end of training camp, spent three weeks on the

Mitch Albom | Detroit Free Press As Matthew Stafford headed into the meeting that would change his life, he texted his wife, Kelly, and wrote, “Well, here we go.” The Detroit Lions president, Rod Wood, was waiting in the room. The Lions owner, Sheila Ford Hamp, was on speaker phone. Stafford, who freely admits, “I

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press When Aaron Glenn first arrived in New Orleans, he inherited a secondary that was not very good and quickly got worse. The Saints ranked last in the league against the pass in Glenn’s first season as defensive backs coach in 2016, then improved to a middle-of-the-pack pass defense in Year

Carlos Monarrez | Detroit Free Press If the Detroit Lions select a quarterback with the No. 7 pick in the NFL draft, don’t expect him to play much this year. At least not if Anthony Lynn has his way. The Lions’ new offensive coordinator said Wednesday he wants the best player to play, but he

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press Duce Staley was coaching running backs for the Philadelphia Eagles when the team’s longtime vice president of security, Dom DiSandro, invited him to a high school football game years ago. DiSandro was friends with the father of a top running back recruit at nearby St. Joseph’s Prep, and he asked