Detroit Lions Notes

Notes: SI.com predicts 10-6 season, but no playoffs, for the Detroit Lions

Andy Benoit thinks highly of the Lions... just not too highly.

By Jeremy Reisman@DetroitOnLion Aug 21, 2018, 4:00pm EDT

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NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions

SI.com’s Andy Benoit made his official 2018 NFL predictions and is one of the few that has the Detroit Lions with a winning record. Unfortunately, his 10-6 prediction wasn’t good enough for a playoff spot in the NFC, and it landed them third in the division. Check out his entire NFL predictions, including his Super Bowl LIII winner.

Speaking of Benoit, he posted several interesting Lions observations from his Twitter account on Tuesday. Here’s just a taste:

If rookie LG Frank Ragnow develops quickly, #Lions will have one of the NFL’s top 5 offensive lines.
— Andy Benoit (@Andy_Benoit) August 21, 2018

Theo Riddick and Golden Tate give #Lions the most challenging underneath receiving duos in football. Rival would be Chris Thompson and Jamison Crowder in Washington.
— Andy Benoit (@Andy_Benoit) August 21, 2018

Darius Slay is among the small handful of corners who can travel with quick No. 1 WRs (Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham types).
— Andy Benoit (@Andy_Benoit) August 21, 2018

Pro Football Focus shared their preseason grades of all 32 first-round picks from the 2018 NFL Draft. Frank Ragnow came in eighth with a solid grade of 72.4.

Peter King thinks the addition of LeGarrette Blount could be huge for the Lions backfield and he’s got the film to prove it:

The Detroit Lions hope LeGarrette Blount can jump-start their running game this season. You can watch him run downhill from every angle with Game Pass presented by @NFL

Learn more at https://t.co/T8eLfkXfhl pic.twitter.com/o70aeNTIcT
— SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) August 20, 2018

Matt Patricia hasn’t lost faith in Ameer Abdullah despite the multiple fumbles Friday night. Patricia said Abdullah’s ball security has “improved a lot” throughout training camp.

Just in case you were reading too much into preseason stats, Kent Lee Platte has a MathBomb™ for you:

Rookie preseason yards per carry:

David Johnson - 3.8
Le'Veon Bell - 2.2
Arian Foster - 2.9
Mark Ingram - 2.9
LeSean McCoy - 3.3
Alex Collins 3.7
Marshawn Lynch - 1.7

Kerryon Johnson - 3.9
Derrius Guice - 3.2
Nick Chubb - 2.5
Rashaad Penny - 2.0
Ronald Jones 0.9#Context pic.twitter.com/S8YavV8abu
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) August 21, 2018

Matthew Stafford was ranked the seventh-worst bargain among starting NFL quarterbacks, mostly because of the high salary he’s demanded his entire career, thanks to the delayed rookie wage scale.