The Detroit Lions looked like the class of the NFL for a large portion of the 2024 regular season. Blowouts became the new normal inside Ford Field, as the league's top-scoring offense was complemented by a feisty defense capable of wreaking havoc with the best of them. The result was a franchise-best 15 wins (the previous record was 12!) and an NFL-high +222 point differential.

And then just like that: The season was over. Jayden Daniels and the Commanders managed to take down Jared Goff and company 45-31 in Detroit, as ill-timed turnovers and the defense's neverending string of injuries finally became too much for Dan Campbell's crew to overcome.

Certainly still one helluva season relative to what Lions fans are used to, but still awfully disappointing considering the reality that nobody had better odds to make the Super Bowl entering the postseason. Sheesh.

Today we'll get into potential offseason injuries to monitor as well as team needs ahead of the 2025 offseason while also recapping some of the good and bad of 2024.

As always: It's a great day to be great.

What Are The Biggest Needs of the Lions Ahead Of 2025?

Team Need No. 1: Cornerback

The team's safeties might be in a good spot, but the corners weren't great in 2024, and now several of the key contributors are set to hit free agency:

Lions corners PFF coverage grades in 2024 (among 128 qualified CBs):

Overall, nobody allowed more receiving yards to opposing WRs than the Lions last season. Part of that is indeed tied to the Lions forcing their opponents into catch-up mode for large portions of the season and fielding a typically strong run defense; just realize more resources are needed in what is currently the league's 10th-cheapest cornerback room in current 2025 dollars.

Team Need No. 2: Defensive line

Getting rising superstar Aidan Hutchinson back from injury will be huge here, but Marcus Davenport is hitting free agency, and numerous depth pieces in the interior could also be finding new homes soon. Add it all together, and the Lions presently have the 10th-fewest 2025 dollars allotted to their interior and EDGE defenders.

Good news: The team's ability to cause disruption in opposing backfields was nothing short of elite in 2024. This is evidenced through "Havoc rate", which is the percentage of plays in which a defense recorded a pressure, tackle for a loss, interception, forced fumble, or pass breakup:

Top-five Havoc rates in 2024:

  • Broncos (40.3%)
  • Lions (40%)
  • Browns (40%)
  • Eagles (39.6%)
  • Vikings (39%)

Now imagine if a certain disgruntled star pass rusher from the No. 3 team on the above list found his way to Detroit …

Team Need No. 3: WR3

This is hardly the most pressing problem in the world considering whoever emerges as the offense's No. 3 WR will still likely finish fifth on the offense in total targets. Additionally, Detroit ranked just 24th in their percentage of plays in 11 personnel (54.2%); this is an offense that loves to use plenty of two-TE formations.

Still, both Tim Patrick and Allen Robinson are hitting free agency, leaving the Lions with only Kalif Raymond and Antoine Green to complement obvious starters Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. Now, I maintain that Raymond is a baller, shot caller, but he turns 31 in August, and the Lions have largely refrained from featuring him as more than a gadget/return specialist over the years.

There's no reason to go too overboard here; just realize Green, Williams, and St. Brown represent the only WRs this team has drafted across the last four drafts combined. Overall, this is one of just seven franchises to devote only *one* top-100 draft pick to their WR room since 2020.

DETROIT LIONS 2024 RECAP

  • Record: 15-2 (10.5 preseason win total)
  • Points per game: 33.2 (1st)
  • EPA per dropback: +0.267 (3rd)
  • EPA per rush: +0.021 (5th)
  • Points per game allowed: 20.1 (7th)
  • Leading passer: Jared Goff (4,629 pass yards, 37 TD, 12 INT)
  • Leading rusher: Jahmyr Gibbs (250 carries, 1,412 yards, 16 TD)
  • Leading receiver: Amon-Ra St. Brown (115 receptions, 1,263 yards, 12 TD)

Biggest surprise: WR Jameson Williams

Jamo was looking like anyone's idea of a bust through two seasons in the league. Sure, injuries and gambling (one of us!) didn't exactly make life easy in 2022 or 2023, but at the end of the day: Former No. 12 overall picks are expected to have more than 395 receiving yards through 18 career games.

Good news: Williams parlayed (see what I did there) good health with a newfound full-time role to put together his best season yet. The result was 1,062 total yards and eight TDs in 15 games, with many of those scores being of the thrilling-long-house-call variety.

The wild part is that Williams only needed 91 targets and 58 receptions in order to clear the 1,000-receiving-yard mark.

Since 2000, just 14 WRs have reached the 1k milestone with under triple-digit targets, with only A.J. Brown (84), George Kittle (90), and Mike Williams (90) specifically doing it with fewer pass-game opportunities than Jamo. Only AJB (11.1) and Kittle (11.8) averaged more yards per target than Williams (11) among all players with more than 75 targets in 2024.

Maintaining this efficiency will be tough in 2025 because it's freaking hard to do period, man. Still, give the much-maligned Ohio State/Alabama product credit for bouncing back in a major way last year and proving that the original hype was more than deserved.

Biggest disappointment: TE Sam LaPorta

This one is mostly just relative to LaPorta's preseason fantasy hype, as the second-year talent was typically the first TE off the board in drafts of most shapes and sizes.

Unfortunately, he failed to produce like it for the vast majority of the 2024 regular season. While a strong end to the season helped LaPorta post a respectable TE9 finish in PPR points per game, it's likely that many of the fantasy managers who drafted him in the first place were no longer in a position to overly benefit from the performances.

LaPorta PPR points per game:

  • Weeks 1-7: 7.1 (TE22)
  • Weeks 8-14: 11.3 (TE11)
  • Weeks 15-DR: 16.2 (TE2)

Early-season hamstring and ankle injuries didn't help matters, and LaPorta ultimately wound up averaging just 5.2 targets per game after going for 7.1 as a rookie. However, it might behoove dynasty faithful to not freak out too much considering we're still talking about the sixth-best TE ever in PPR points per game during their first two seasons.

Key Injuries

While the Lions' defensive meeting room resembled a walking graveyard down the stretch of last season, the key parties involved on the offensive side of the ball managed to experience mostly good health throughout the year. Thus, Detroit is tentatively not believed to be dealing with any overly fantasy-relevant injuries ahead of the offseason.