Detroit Free Press

BURROWHEAD, Mo. — OK, I’m not actually in Missouri. But I am firmly and figuratively situated in the mind space that belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals’ quarterback. So that’s where I thought I’d start this column, because, frankly, I can’t stop thinking about what Joe Burrow said after the Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens in

You watch these NFL playoffs and, for the first time in a long time, you think: Why can’t this be the Detroit Lions next year? Why can’t it be the Lions in the NFC championship game? Why can’t it be in the Lions, getting ready for the Super Bowl? And I have come to a

Jared Goff is in rare company as a Detroit Lions quarterback. Goff was added to the NFC Pro Bowl roster Tuesday, joining teammates Frank Ragnow, Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown in the game. The Lions have four offensive players in the Pro Bowl for the first time since 1971, and Goff is the second

It’s a copycat league, the NFL. So goes the saying, and the saying is going around a lot at the moment, as it always does this time of the year, when the schedule has winnowed the field to two, and the runup to the Super Bowl doesn’t quite ramp up for another week. So, yeah,

The Detroit Lions got an up-close look at Senior Bowl prospects last season when they coached the American team in the annual college all-star game. They won’t have the same luxury this season, as the NFL has allocated full coaching staffs to the Shrine Game instead of the Senior Bowl, but Lions assistant Shaun Dion

The Detroit Lions will have a new tight ends coach in 2023. The Lions are hiring former Arizona Cardinals assistant Steve Heiden to coach tight ends, ESPN reported Monday. More:This ‘revelation’ led Detroit Lions’ Shaun Dion Hamilton to leave playing for coaching Heiden’s addition is one of several changes expected to the Lions’ assistant coaching

The Detroit Lions will have a new tight ends coach in 2023. The Lions are hiring former Arizona Cardinals assistant Steve Heiden to coach tight ends, ESPN reported Monday. More:This ‘revelation’ led Detroit Lions’ Shaun Dion Hamilton to leave playing for coaching Heiden’s addition is one of several changes expected to the Lions’ assistant coaching

Detroit Lions center Frank Ragnow will have company at the Pro Bowl this week. Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and right tackle Penei Sewell were named to the NFC Pro Bowl roster Monday. St. Brown replaces Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown, while Sewell takes the place of Eagles right tackle Lane Johnson. More:The serious

A few days after the Detroit Lions‘ preseason opener against the Atlanta Falcons last summer, linebacker Shaun Dion Hamilton started peppering his position coach, Kelvin Sheppard, with questions about what it was like to be a coach. What was the best part? What was the worst part? What were the hours like? “He said, ‘I

I didn’t expect to write this column. I didn’t even expect to work on Saturday — I was supposed to be on vacation. But I got an email that Detroit Lions running back Jamaal Williams was scheduled to do an autograph signing at DC Sports at Lakeside Mall in Sterling Heights. I thought: Well, that

They’re different, these NFL playoffs. They feel different, anyway. And since perception is reality and the Lions are changing perceptions, well, Sunday’s impending NFC and AFC championship games suddenly don’t feel like faraway entertainment as much as a referendum on: How would the Lions stack up against Kansas City? Or Cincinnati? Or San Francisco?  Or

Former Detroit Lions linebacker Jessie Lemonier has died, the team announced Thursday. He was 25 years old. “We are shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of former Detroit Lion Jessie Lemonier,” the Lions said in a statement. “Jessie was a model teammate and a wonderful young man who is gone far too soon.

For the first time since 1984, the USFL will play games in the state of Michigan. Starting this spring, Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, will host the USFL’s Michigan Panthers and Philadelphia Stars during the 2023 USFL season. The Panthers will open up the home slate on April 30. The league made the

Apple Podcasts | Spotify • Hosts: Shawn Windsor (@shawnwindsor) and Carlos Monarrez (@cmonarrez) • Producer: Andrew Hammond • Editor: Robin Chan • Executive producers: Anjanette Delgado, Kirkland Crawford • Email: swindsor@freepress.com On this episode: This week, the guys ruminate on the space between cynicism and skepticism as they discuss how the sports media landscape has evolved. Later, Carlos and Shawn use the remaining playoff teams as the measuring

James Houston was one of the most disruptive pass rushers in the NFL this season despite playing only a smattering of snaps after starting the year on the Detroit Lions practice squad. As Houston heads into his first offseason as a pro, his personal pass rush coach said he should be even more dangerous in

Detroit Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson is one of three finalists for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, but Dan Campbell did not make the cut in Coach of the Year voting. The NFL announced finalists for its eight major end-of-season awards Wednesday via Associated Press voting. Campbell generated Coach of the Year consideration after

One of the NFL’s preeminent draft analysts has released his first 2023 mock draft. And with two first-round picks for the Detroit Lions, we’d be doing a disservice to ignore the information, even if we’re still three months out from names being called and daps from commissioner Roger Goodell live in Kansas City. So let’s

They’re big and burly and not at all dandelions, but cultivating an elite offensive line in the NFL is like growing a prize garden — both require plenty of pruning to keep the weeds out. That’s the spot the Detroit Lions find themselves in this offseason as they look to keep one of the NFL’s

In the early 1990s, I was working in one of my first journalism jobs at the Pasadena Star-News, a small newspaper just outside Los Angeles. The paper had hired a new editor and he called a staff meeting with the sports department in an ominous, dark-paneled conference room I didn’t even know existed. No one

Ndamukong Suh earned his first ring in 2021. Matthew Stafford won a championship last February. Now, Darius Slay is two wins away from joining his former Detroit Lions teammates on the list of Super Bowl champions. Slay is the most prominent of more than a dozen ex-Lions still left in the NFL playoffs after his