Notes: ESPN says Detroit Lions had one of the best offseasons in the NFL

Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn has never shown that he is scared to make a splash free agent signing. In 2016, he landed Marvin Jones Jr.. In 2017, the additions of T.J. Lang and Rick Wagner bolstered the offensive line. After striking out on all the big names in 2018, he was back at it again this year, landing a huge free agent haul that will shape the team this upcoming season.

Trey Flowers and Justin Coleman can take the defense to an elite level, while signing Jesse James could have landed the Lions the perfect TE2 to play alongside rookie first-round selection T.J. Hockenson.

ESPN took notice of Detroit’s stand out offseason, as the gave them an “Above average” grade when they rated every team’s offseason to this point on Tuesday.

Beat writer Michael Rothstein said:

The Lions revamped the tight end position and signed Trey Flowers to bolster the defensive line. Patricia also has seemed more comfortable during his podium sessions, which is his conduit to speaking with the team’s fan base, than he did at any point last year.

He also mentioned the still existing gap at CB2, though, as it still does seem worrying that Detroit does not have a second starting caliber corner entering training camp.

The only NFL team given a better rating than Detroit was the Cleveland Browns.

This is now the third differing opinion ESPN writers have given the Lions’ offseason. One writer believes only two teams had a worse offseason than Detroit, while another thinks the Lions are the most improved team this offseason.

• USA Today’s Nate Davis took stock of all 12 NFL franchises yet to win a Super Bowl title, and ranked them by their likelihood to land their first Vince Lombardi trophy next February. Davis does not seem very high on the Lions, though, ranking them 11th — only ahead of the Cincinnati Bengals. SB Nation put out something very similar, with similar results.

• Lions Twitter was set on fire Monday when the official NFL Rewind account brought a 2006 game where former Detroit quarterback Josh McCown took some snaps at slot receiver back into our collective memory.

Pro Football Focus’ Lions account added some additional context to the video on Tuesday, highlighting McCown’s surprisingly good play when he did line up as a wide out.

• 247 Sports’ Kevin Boilard listed 10 former college stars who are entering “now-or-never” NFL seasons in 2019. Former Detroit Lions running back and 2015 second-round draft pick Ameer Abdullah made the list. The running back was one of the best running backs in University of Nebraska history, but injuries and fumbles marred his time in Detroit. He was waived midway through the 2018 season and found a home as a Minnesota Viking.

Abdullah did not feature much last season in Minneapolis, mainly getting work on special teams.

• UStadium built an “All over 30” team on twitter, and Lions defensive tackle Damon Harrison made the cut.

Harrison is listed as 31 years old, while he is only 30 at the moment. He does not turn 31 until November, but he still would qualify for the list anyways.

• Former Detroit Lions sixth-round pick Aaron Brown has been accused of striking his 11 year old daughter during a scuffle earlier this month in Texas, the NY Post’s Amanda Woods reports.