The Detroit Lions are aiming to be where the Kansas City Chiefs are right now. Super Bowl champs with sustained viability — that’s the goal for Detroit under GM Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell and Lions owner Sheila Hamp.
How the Chiefs got to that pinnacle, and then remain there with an adapting roster and changing contractual demands that come with having enough talented players to remain highly successful, is not easy to pull off. As NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah noted in his pre-draft press conference, it requires successful drafting and player development by the coaching staff.
“I give their staff credit because sometimes it’s not just your scouting staff
being able to identify talent,” Jeremiah said of the Chiefs front office. “It’s your coaching staff being able to develop that talent. I think the Chiefs coaching staff is one of the best teaching staffs in the NFL, and that was evident by the way they were able to get these young guys on the field early and get them up and running. They just got better and better as the year went along.”
That is the basic structure the Lions are working hard at executing. It took some time, but the dividends finally starting paying off in the team’s 8-2 finish to the 2022 season. Taking the next step in Detroit isn’t a given, but the model the Chiefs used to make the jump is a smart path for the Lions to follow. Draft smartly, develop talent with good coaches who teach well, and keep the core of the band together.
Jeremiah then laid out why it’s so important to draft well while paying Patrick Mahomes.
“I think they’ve kind of laid out the blueprint for teams that have paid their
quarterback. This is how you have to do it. You’ve got to go out there, get
extra picks. You’re not going to be able to pay everybody, but you need to hit
on draft picks.”
It’s a lesson Brad Holmes and the Lions might have to experience with Jared Goff. Should Goff perform in 2023 the way he finished 2022, he’s going to command a significant pay bump in his next contract. That means the ability to find inexpensive contributors in the draft and develop them into more important pieces is so critical.
Holmes and Campbell are often referenced with the teams from whence they came, the Rams for Holmes and the Saints for Campbell. But they do appear to be closely embracing the Chiefs model through the first two years.
Jeremiah wasn’t directly referencing the Lions when he talked about the Chiefs, but it’s very easy to see Detroit following the path that Jeremiah described in Kansas City.
