Wednesday open thread: Where should the Lions be in NFL offseason power rankings?

Power rankings. We love to hate them. They’re absolutely meaningless, yet endless fodder for conversation and debate during lean times of the year.

At no point in the calendar are power rankings more meaningless than right now. We can pretend all we want, but we know very little about all 32 teams at this point in the offseason. Everyone seems to think they know how these rookie classes will fare out, or how certain free agents will play in their new homes, or how a team’s second and third-year players will progress in 2018.

But injuries will happen, players will surprisingly regress, rookie sleepers will come out of nowhere, and somewhere along the way, a few teams will shockingly take the league by storm, while a dependable team or two will fall off the map. The only certainty is that the Patriots will win the AFC East.

However, it’s inevitable for us to try and make big predictions. The unknown is uncomfortable and scary, so we convince ourselves we have a pretty good idea of what’s going to happen in 2018. Hence, power rankings week. ESPN placed the Detroit Lions at 17th overall this week, while the Detroit Free Press slotted them at 15. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Where would you place the Detroit Lions in your own personal power rankings right now?

My answer: I’m not going to do a full 32-team power ranking, because I admittedly don’t have a good background every other franchise, but based on the Lions’ recent mild success, their 2018 offseason and their upcoming schedule, I think Detroit fits right around 12th in the league.

The Lions have been reasonably competitive in the NFL—and their own division—for the better half of a decade. They have won at least seven games in six of the past seven years, and have won at least nine in three of the past four seasons.

As for their offseason moves, nothing among those transactions makes me believe this team is headed for troubled waters in 2018. On paper, they are arguably a better team (although what team doesn’t think they’re better?), and they now have a coach perfect for addressing the team’s biggest weakness over the past three seasons: defense.

The defensive personnel is still a pretty big issue, especially when it comes to depth for the front seven, so I can’t in good faith look at this roster and call it a top 10 team. But there’s no reason to think they aren’t knocking on that door, as they have been since 2011. So 12th sound just right for the Lions right now.

Your turn.