Wednesday open thread: Should the Detroit Lions open all OTAs to the media?

Looking around the NFL, it’s hard not to be jealous of some other teams right now. Look over in New York, and you’ll see highlights, photos and interviews of Giants first-round pick Saquon Barkley among a ton of other coverage from organized team activities. Over in San Francisco, 49ers fans continue to get hyped over boy wonder Jimmy Garoppolo and new addition Richard Sherman (even though Sherman isn’t medically cleared yet).

For Detroit Lions fans, however, the excitement has been less than palpable. The Lions, now two practices deep in OTAs, have yet to open practices to the media. Instead, fans and media are left to draw any sort of excitement through heavily-manicured, 60-second highlight reels and photo galleries that reveal next to nothing about the team. No player interviews. No practice recaps.

To be completely fair, not all of the Lions’ OTA practices will be closed to the public. DetroitLions.com’s Tori Petry says about one-third of OTAs will be opened to the media, which is the same policy held by the team last year.

But today’s Question of the Day is:

Do you think the Lions should open up all OTA practices to the media?

My answer: This is a tough question for me to answer, because I have different motivations in my different roles related with the team. As a media member, I’d absolutely love more opportunities to cover the team. Our barebones OTA recaps are just as frustrating for me to write as it is for some of you to read. I hate going frame-by-frame of a minute-long video to see if I can pull out the vaguest of conclusions from practice.

And even as a fan, I’d love to see more coverage of the team right now. This should be one of the most exciting parts of the offseason right now, considering the Lions are entering a new era under Matt Patricia, and the Lions’ new additions are finally doing something resembling real football drills. Instead, we’re still wallowing in the wake of some ugly, distracting stories.

But as a person who wants to see this team win above all else, there’s a part of me that is ultimately fine with the Lions being secretive. Although I think any sort of competitive advantage gained by keeping these practices under wraps is miniscule, I still respect the team’s right to do so. Even if there’s only a tiny, tiny, tiny bit to gain, I’m willing to accept that advantage over my own short-term instant gratification from OTA reports that would likely be overblown and overanalyzed anyways.

Still, I can’t deny it’s a bit frustrating right now.

Your turn.