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Notes: How good were the Detroit Lions WRs in 2019?

According to a new offensive evaluation metric, extremely good.

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Detroit Lions v Arizona Cardinals Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Max Gerber from Lions Wire posted the results of his project to combine various offensive statistical measures (e.g. yards, touchdowns) into a composite unit-wide score for each team. His offensive contribution score (OCS) also makes it possible to attribute how much of the overall unit’s score was contributed by each skill position player.

Given his fan loyalties, it is natural that the first set of scores presented in that Twitter thread for 2019 data by Gerber are the NFC North division teams. “The Lions had the second-best WR trio with the most evenly distributed stats, and their RB group was the second-worst.” That’s right, the second-highest scoring wide receiver group in the entire league (Tampa Bay’s receivers are pretty good) by Gerber’s OCS measure.

It’s early in the life cycle of OCS, but it is always good to see this type of creative statistical work going on in Lions Twitter. Looking forward to seeing where this work leads in terms of future refinements and applications. And with that, let us now proceed to the rest of today’s Notes:

  • Trey Flowers’ charitable foundation continues doing good work:

  • The Lions still have a lot of cap space:

  • Mark Schofield at USA Today’s Touchdown Wire has been writing a series of articles explaining one important aspect or metric for each NFL team. On Thursday, he posted his article for the Detroit Lions, which focuses on Matthew Stafford’s performance while under pressure.

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