Notes: Detroit Lions have 7th-most offseason resources for 2023

The Detroit Lions season is sadly over, but for some, that’s when the real fun begins. Since general manager Brad Holmes has come to town, the Lions have done an excellent job rebuilding. He’s developed a young core of players, and that roster is just now stating to hit its stride. Next year could be something special, but it’ll take another solid offseason for the Lions to take the next step into true contender.

In his press conference on Tuesday, Holmes sounded up to the task.

“On the plane going back (from Green Bay), yeah, I was excited,” Holmes sadi. “I was like, ‘Man, it’s time to get players now.’ And that just gives me juices, man, when that opportunity and those windows come up. It’s exciting to have the capital that we have.”

That last sentence is important. The Lions, for yet another offseason, have a lot of offseason resources. They have two first round picks, two second-round picks, and a fair amount of cap space, too. But how does that measure up with the rest of the league?

The good folks at PFF found a way to quantify offseason resources combining several factors: draft pick value, effective cap space, and restructurable contracts. Arjun Menon created a composite score combining those three factors, and the Lions came out seventh in overall offseason resources.

Last year, the Lions were sixth in this metric, and we all saw what Holmes did with that offseason.

And when you put those offseason resource composite scores on a graph with current overall win/loss record, you’ll see that the Detroit Lions are in the exact right quadrant you’d like to be in as a health franchise:

Fun times ahead.

• Nice film breakdown here from Dan Orlovsky on the two plays—one on offense, one on defense—that won the game for the Lions over the Packers:

• If you missed it, Packers linebacker Quay Walker offered a pretty sincere-sounding apology on Twitter. He has since deleted his account, but you can still see his apology over on the Packers reddit page.

He also spoke at length with the Lions employee:

• Penei Sewell is sad to see the season end so abruptly, but he couldn’t hold in his excitement for the 2023 season. Nolan Bianchi of the Detroit News has more.

• ESPN analyst Matt Bowen did an awesome job pointing out two fantastic plays from rookie safety Kerby Joseph:

• D’Andre Swift talked to the Detroit Free Press on locker clean-out day about his long, tough year. He mentioned that he’s still dealing with a few injury and will consult a medical team on them, but doesn’t expect to need surgery.

• Aidan Hutchinson is up for Rookie of the Week again. He won the award back in Week 11. Vote for him here.