If you haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, this might be your last chance. Around the country, football folks are all-in on the Detroit Lions.
"The bandwagon is starting to fill up, right? The Honolulu Blue bandwagon? But why not?" Rich Eisen said Tuesday. "They played the best football in that division the last six weeks of 2022. … And they have made some moves. Boy, do I like them."
So does Vegas, where the Lions are favored to win their first division title in 30 years.
So does longtime former player and longtime former exec Louis Riddick, now with ESPN. After naming the Lions a "a real contender for the trophy" in 2023 toward the end of last season, Riddick doubled down last week after Detroit's flurry of moves in free agency -- and that was before the club added the NFL picks leader from last season, C.J. Gardner Johnson.
So does NFL Network's Kyle Brandt, who said Tuesday he is "in love with the Lions."
"I’m really excited to say this because I haven't said it since I think I was in maybe 8th grade, the Lions are going to be really good next season. Hell yes, it feels good to say," said Brandt. "Does it feel good to hear? I don’t care. The Lions are going to be really good next season. There’s something about them.
"There’s some really tangible things, some really strong football things, draft things, but just the symbolic things, too. I’m openly rooting for the Detroit Lions next year. I think they ended last season as a top-five team in the entire NFL. Not in the NFC. I mean the whole thing."
The tangible things: the Lions won eight of their final 10 games last season after a 1-6 start, manhandled three playoff teams in the process and wound up one of only two NFC teams with five wins in their division. That's real.
The football things: the Lions just overhauled their secondary in free agency with proven vets in Gardner-Johnson, Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Moseley, upgraded at running back with David Montgomery and brought back three key defensive players in Alex Anzalone, Isaiah Buggs and John Cominsky.
The draft things: the Lions have two first-round picks, including No. 6 overall, and five picks in the top 81. They could go any number of directions at No. 6, including trading down to add even more assets to their war chest. Or trading up for someone like Alabama defensive end Will Anderson. It's all on the table.
"You know at 6 overall they’re going to get a tremendous football player, and then they’re going to sit back at 18 and get another really good football player who could be just as tremendous as the guy they get sixth," said Eisen.
Kay Adams loves the Lions, too.
"I have to give the Lions some love for what they’ve done to overhaul the defense and add some serous talent to the roster this offseason," Adams said Tuesday. "It’s too early and yes, we should take some time with this one, but I am really heavily, at this point, in March, leaning toward picking the Lions to win their first division title since 1993."
"I’m calling it: home playoff game, Detroit Lions, for the 2023 season," said Eisen. "Done."
In the words of Brandt, "It would be such a crazy thing for the Detroit Lions, who we’ve watched suffer in one way or another for decades, if they could just get in the thing and start knocking playoff teams off, if they could get to the (conference) title game, if the Lions could get to the Super Bowl, if the Lions could win the whole bleepin’ thing.
"It would be this incredible comeback story from someone who is laughed at and meme’d to, 'How do you like me now?' I want the Detroit Lions to go all the way, and I’m completely into it."
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