Notes: Detroit Lions shut out of top 25 players under 25 list

For all intents and purposes, the Detroit Lions’ 2018 season is over. Their playoff chances are under one percent, two of their best offensive players are on injured reserve and a third is dealing with a knee injury.

So it’s only human nature to look into the future of this franchise and see if they’re headed in the right direction. Key to future success is young, talented players who can not only help your team compete, but can do so on a budget-friendly rookie deal.

While Bob Quinn’s 2018 draft class has looked pretty impressive thus far, Detroit doesn’t appear to have any blockbuster young players right now. At least that’s what ESPN’s Mike Sado believes.

Sando put together his list of the top 25 players in the NFL under 25 years old (ESPN Insider required) and the Detroit Lions were shut out of the list.

The argument could be made for players like Kerryon Johnson or Da’Shawn Hand, but the rest of the cupboard is pretty bare. You’ve got players like Jarrad Davis, Michael Roberts, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Teez Tabor, who are all disappointments to varying degrees. Key young players like Kenny Golladay (25), Taylor Decker (25) and Quandre Diggs are all just too old to make the list.

• This is “My Cause My Cleats” week in the NFL, when athletes are permitted to wear customized cleats to help support charity or causes they believe in. Here’s a look at some of the cleats Lions players will be wearing this week and the causes they support.

MLive has a full list of the charitable causes.

• ESPN’s Bill Barnwell named the best and worst season for every NFL franchise. You probably already know the Lions’ worst season, but can you guess what ESPN thinks is the best season?

• Damon Harrison Sr.—who just turned 30 this week—is still the king of run stuffs:

• Matthew Stafford had exactly the kind of response you’d expect out of him after learning about Ndamukong Suh’s diss earlier in the week:

• Matt Patricia is entering foreign territory. At seven losses already, this is already (at least) his second worse season as a coach at any level of play.

• The Lions made another small change to their practice squad on Friday: