One year ago, the Detroit Lions were coming off the franchise’s first-ever NFC North title and the first postseason in the Super Bowl era with more than one victory. After coming up just short of the first-ever Detroit appearance in a Super Bowl, there were a lot of questions about Dan Campbell’s team. Those generally boiled down to one specific wonder:
Could they do it again?
Despite some doubts about the defensive talent, moving pieces on the offensive line and being one of the NFL’s youngest teams, the Lions went out and had the best regular season in franchise history. Aided by a favorable schedule, the Lions finished 15-2, the NFC’s top playoff seed, and featured the best scoring offense in football. They overcame losing several key defenders to major injuries along the way, too–which they couldn’t overcome in a humbling postseason home loss to Washington.
Yet in many circles, skepticism still abounds. Can they do it again, even after losing both coordinators, an All-Pro center and now facing one of the league’s toughest schedules?
There are plenty of pundits who will scream “no way!” at these Lions remaining a legit Super Bowl contender. They’re pretty easy to find this year, proudly writing off Campbell and the two-time reigning NFC North champions as missing their window.
I am not one of those people. There is still plenty to love about the 2025 Detroit Lions. They might not finish 15-2 again, but barring something catastrophic, the Lions are still one of the elite teams that can realistically aspire to hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in February. Here are a few key reasons why…
The breadth of offensive skill position talent
The concept of offensive “triplets” has been a popular measuring stick for NFL teams since at least the Hall of Fame troika of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin with the Jimmy Johnson-era Cowboys 30-plus years ago. Put together the team’s quarterback, top wide receiver and top running back and stack them against the rest of the league.
The Lions triplets consist of Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs, and that’s one of the best in the league. But where Detroit really shines is when the triplets get extended out to sextuplets. Add in Jameson Williams, Sam LaPorta and David Montgomery and the Lions have an overflowing abundance of high-quality weapons for Goff to work with.
Goff isn’t the dynamic superstar other teams have at the helm, but the Lions don’t ask that of him, either. That’s not going to change with Ben Johnson now trying to do just that with Caleb Williams in Chicago. Make the proper reads, make the accurate throws, make the clutch decisions, make the stars shine brighter–that’s Jared Goff. He’s great at all of that and he embraces it.
Fresh eyes on defense
This is in no way meant to disrespect Detroit’s defensive coordinator over the last four seasons, Aaron Glenn. “AG” did an admirable job overall in cobbling together a defense after starting from almost nothing; not a single defender from before Dan Campbell took over in 2021 remains on the team. Last year’s experience in replacing injured starters all over the formation and keeping the Detroit defense functional enough to win 15 games is a testament to Glenn’s coaching ability.
But it was time for a fresh approach, too. Glenn had a system, one that didn’t deviate much from week to week, opponent to opponent. Enter Kelvin Sheppard.
The former linebackers coach and longtime NFL linebacker brings a different energy and schematic perspective. We’ve already seen some of the tweaks in training camp and the preseason. Among them: more variability of alignments up front, more use of the lienbackers as attack dogs, more mix-and-match man coverage on the back end. There is a renewed, vociferous mission to create takeaways and dictate matchups to the offense, not reacting to the opponent.
These are, by and large, very welcomed changes. Again, Glenn was a very good coordinator. But the Lions defense felt a little stale and situationally predictable. Better offenses could exploit the schematic weaknesses and the tendencies. Now, that’s reversed. With former NFL DCs Jim O’Neil and Kacy Rodgers helping him out, Sheppard’s new-look Lions defense is more than capable of pulling its weight in wins.
Health
Detroit finished 2024 with just four defensive players who were healthy long enough to play more than 65 percent of the snaps. An astonishing 42 different players lined up for the Lions defense, with 25 playing at least 100 snaps. No other team had more than 20 players who logged 100 or more defensive snaps.
Somehow, the team still finished 7th in scoring defense and 5th in rushing defense while leading the NFL in third-down conversion percentage allowed. That they did that with so many key players, from Aidan Hutchinson to Alex Anzalone, Carlton Davis to Alim McNeill and everyone in between missing major chunks of the season shows how deep and fundamentally sound Detroit’s defensive core talent truly is.
Now they’re (mostly) healthy. McNeill, the team’s best DT, and No. 4 LB Malcolm Rodriguez remain out until at least midseason, but the rest of the unit is back and eager to prove themselves. Hutchinson was well on his way to Defensive Player of the Year honors when he broke his leg in the fifth game. DT D.J. Reader is fully recovered from a quad injury that he wasn’t quite over during 2024. New No. 1 CB D.J. Reed looks strong, as does slot Amik Robertson.
Injuries are bound to happen again. Football is a violent game. But the injury lightning from 2024 is extremely unlikely to strike as intensely in 2025. The storm will hopefully blow more evenly around the NFC this year instead of focusing its wrath on Detroit’s defense once again.
Putting the special in specialists
A year ago, the Lions were breaking in a kicker who never made a single field goal attempt in college and an undrafted rookie long snapper. Punter Jack Fox was a great and known commodity, but Jake Bates and Hogan Hatten were completely unknown variables.
Bates didn’t miss a field goal until Thanksgiving and finished 6-of-8 on attempts longer than 50 yards. He shattered the team record for extra points and also touchbacks in a season. Hatten didn’t have an errant snap all season, a feat he continued through the preseason in 2025. Fox was a first-team All-Pro and led the NFL in net punting. Statistically speaking, he’s the greatest punter in NFL history with a 48.8 yards per kick average after four seasons in Detroit.
But wait, there’s more! Return specialist Kalif Raymond was second-team All-Pro and has led the NFL in total punt return yards in two of the last three seasons. Rookie Sione Vaki quickly established himself as one of the league’s better cover men, joining fellow Lion Khalil Dorsey in that status. Detroit also added Grant Stuard, a tornado of terrific special teams in all capacities. This is a Lions team under coordinator Dave Fipp that takes special teams very seriously, and it helps them control field position and stress the opposing defense at the same time.
Prime players in their primes
This is a Lions roster that is built to win right here, right now. The core talent, the marquee players, the impact talents–they’re all either in their prime years or just entering them:
Goff, the ringmaster, is 30, still well within the prime age for a quarterback. David Montgomery is 28 and benefits from splitting the load with Gibbs, keeping him fresher than most RBs his age. Terrion Arnold and D.J. Reed, the top two CBs, are 22 and 28, respectively. Amik Robertson is 27.
Those are the difference-makers on offense and defense. That’s a really long list; doing the same thing for Green Bay and Chicago combined together doesn’t render a list that long or with as many Pro Bowls or All-Pros. It’s a factor too many national pundits are ignoring, too.
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: The optimist’s guide to the 2025 Detroit Lions
Reporting by Jeff Risdon, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
