Notes: NFL.com’s power rankings drop Detroit Lions to bottom 7

After two rough weeks in the preseason, it’s not hard to believe that the Lions aren’t going to rank very high on anyone’s power rankings. So it wasn’t any surprise to me that NFL.com put the Lions at 26 in their latest power ranking. It shouldn’t surprise you either.

Author Dan Hanzus’ reasoning focuses a lot on the Lions offensive line. The same line that allowed nine sacks against the Patriots and two against the Texans. He also understands why head coach Matt Patricia has yet to play Matthew Stafford in the preseason—because of those offensive line issues.

Will the Lions ever rank higher? Only time will tell.

• The Lions put out their latest episode of Inside The Den this week. This episode focuses on the Lions trip to Houston. I’m a big fan of these. They give such a great inside view of how the team prepares and even the little stuff like how the team gets all their stuff to Houston. If you’re into that sort of thing, give it a watch below.

• Former Lions quarterback Jim Hardy passed away this week. He was 96 years old. According to The Desert Sun, he was the oldest living former USC player.

Jim was a member of the 1952 NFL Champion Detroit Lions team. He threw for 434 yards and three touchdowns that season. In his one start with the Lions he went 9-for-15 for 147 yards and two touchdowns against the Dallas Texans. He also holds the all-time record for most interceptions thrown in a game.

• ESPN’s Michael Rothstein put out a good article on Lions running back Ty Johnson. Rothstein talks about the value that Johnson can bring to the team now that Theo Riddick is gone. He also notes that Johnson could be a fantasy sleeper in 2019. I’m not ready to go that far, but from what I’ve seen of Johnson in person, he’s explosive and has speed for days.

• Speaking of fantasy, Yahoo Sports put together a video on the receivers they think will be fantasy busts in 2019. The Lions made this list. They picked Kenny Golladay to be the big receiver bust. The reasoning is that same old blown out of proportion narrative that the Lions are a full-on running team that will apparently never throw the ball again. Watch here.

• My old stomping grounds SideLion Report put out their Too Early All-Decade Special Teams group. There’s some names on here that you’ll obviously remember, because, again, this is way too early. Pretty much everyone on this list is still on the team. So the Lions must be doing well in this facet of their game, right?