Kick 'Em Out 2025: Detroit Lions

Departures of the medical and conventional variety returned the Detroit Lions to their former cursed state in 2025.

Turn out the lights, the party’s over.

With a little help from Willie Nelson, former NFL quarterback and narrator Don Meredith would routinely herald closing time before it was cool on the original editions of Monday Night Football. Alas for all but one of football’s 32 finest, it’s over before the desired Vince Lombardi Trophy hoist, as the season, or at least the championship-contending portion of it, has come to an end.

With that in mind, TeamFB7 goes over the season that was for the fallen, looking at what was, what is, and what could be. Pride is relatively low in the Motor City as the Detroit Lions were one again left on the outside looking in …

Team: Detroit Lions
Record: 9-8
Date of Playoff Death: Dec. 25
Last Playoff Season: 2024

What Went Wrong

Too much of the pride migrated and there were far too few adequate successors to the Lions’ kings.

Detroit received a harsh lesson in the importance of depth when last year’s historic 15-win tour fizzled out in the divisional round thanks to a slew of defensive injuries. That loss to the Washington Commanders would go on to become dire foreshadowing: the exodus was headlined by the departures of coordinators Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson, both of whom could no longer resist the head coaching temptation.

Regularly regaled as one of the NFL’s top playcallers, Johnson was sorely missed in the Motor City and the fact that he took such talents to division rival Chicago only drove the blade in deeper. Detroit sought to soothe the blow by bringing in former Johnson disciple John Morton. They were able to keep pace in the conventional (fourth and fifth in points and yardage, respectively) and individual departments (Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams improved their numbers when Sam LaPorta was among those lost late in the year), but they struggled to maintain consistency.

Dan Campbell head coach of the Detroit Lions looks on during the fourth quarter of the game against the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium on December 25, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. — Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

There were four games where they put up less than 300 yards (after only two last season) and they scored less than 20 points in five when there was one such showing en route to the division title. Already aware of the Johnson-less burden, head coach Dan Campbell assumed playcalling duties in mid-November, shortly after a grim Sunday night showcase against the Philadelphia Eagles.

While things somewhat improved (moving up to third in total yardage over his seven weeks of supervision), Campbell’s devil may cry schtick on fourth down began to wear thin, especially as the campaign began to slip further out of the Lions’ paws, culminating in a Christmas Day loss that got far into the theme of giving to the tune of six turnovers, one of the worst performances of the Jared Goff era.

Further discipline woes began to creep through as well: the Lions were on the wrong side of the top 10 in the drop department and untimely penalties always seemed to surface (Detroit ranked third in defensive holding charges, for example).

Johnson was far from the only major offensive casualty: tenured yet oft-injured center Frank Ragnow retired in June and later attempted a Thanksgiving comeback that was rendered futile by injury. Goff still had a strong contingent of offensive weaponry (Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery forming a strong rushing attack equally capable of working through the air) but lost further protection when Kevin Zeitler moved to Tennessee. Injuries and on-field issues denied Detroit the ability to find a true successor and Goff, one of the few franchise passers without any notable form of mobility, was taken down on a career-worst 38 occasions, only complicating the manageable third/fourth down issue.

The first scapegoat was Morton, who was let go shortly after the Lions’ season ended before he ironically became the only Lion in the playoffs as an offensive consultant for the Denver Broncos (later promoted to full-time pass game coordinator). Morton has since been replaced by Drew Petzing, who held the same role with the Arizona Cardinals over the last three years.

Dan Campbell on what his focus has been this OFF SEASON 👀

“DEFENSE is what I’ve been focused on…”

Dan is LOCKED IN to getting the Detroit Lions defense back on track #OnePride pic.twitter.com/IwOei7uA4Y
— Crunch Time Sports (@officialctpod) February 24, 2026

On defense, the New York-bound Glenn was replaced by protege Kelvin Sheppard. Unlike the new Jets boss, who was at least able to temper the medical storm during the regular season, Sheppard’s unit was never able to account for mounting injuries with rare exception (i.e. career journeyman Al-Quadin Muhammad breaking loose for 11 sacks): Terrion Arnold, Brian Branch, Marcus Davenport, Kerby Joseph, DJ Reed, and more all missed significant time on the other side of the ball, leading to more disastrous scoring efforts in the wake of their respective absences.

In that regard, the Lions’ return to rare glory may have been over before it ever truly began: relishing its rare posting atop the NFC hierarchy, Detroit opted to keep things a little too static. Beyond some high-profile re-signings, it’s most notable offseason addition was Reed, whose shoulder issues aligned with the official start of the Lions’ downfall, and they waited until day two of the draft to address the interior offensive line issues that Zeitler’s exit exposed.

At least that second-round choice, guard Tate Ratledge, was able to take the field (and paired fairly well on the right side with , unlike recent depth stars like Levi Onwuzurike and Ennis Rakestraw, both of whom spent the entire season on injured reserve. The loss of such talent diluted the successes: while star defender Aidan Hutchinson, for example, it was diluted by the continued absences of Davenport.

Silver Linings

— The Lions obviously make their pay on offense but one of the undeniable franchise faces is Hutchinson, who came to training camp with a much larger wallet after agreeing to an early nine-figure extension. That was risky considering that he was coming off a fractured fibula and tibula but the Michigan alum showed little, if any, signs of rust, to the tune of 50 pressures (tied for second-most in the league behind only Myles Garrett’s historic season) and 14.5 sacks.

Detroit has plenty of questions in the foundational sections of the depth chart, especially on defense, but Hutchinson is clearly the right name to lead it into the future despite his prior medical woes. Equally inspiring was the break of linebacker Jack Campbell, who expertly manned the middle in a campaign that allowed him to reprise the role of Dick Butkus Award winner, originally posting that triumph in college at Iowa.

No. 7 on the PFF 101: EDGE Aidan Hutchinson

🦁 100 pressures (most in regular season)
🦁 23.1% pass rush win rate (3rd)
🦁 14.5 sacks (4th) pic.twitter.com/3QemYVaEcD
— PFF (@PFF) February 21, 2026

— For all the issues that linger in Detroit depth, the team is set up fairly well on the road ahead offensively: following last year’s attempt to stick to the status quo, Goff, St. Brown, Williams, and Penei Sewell are all signed on through at least 2028, giving the Lions an undeniable sense of continuity that looms large in an ever-changing divisional landscape.

Despite his late flaws, Goff still stands as one of the more reliable throwers, earning at least 30 touchdowns for a third consecutive season while losing only eight through the air. There wasn’t much comfort to be had without Johnson this time around, by the fact that the Lions’ offensive attractions were still reliable fantasy football contributors has to be at least somewhat comforting.

Looking Ahead

Notable Free Agents: LB Alex Anzalone, K Jake Bates, EDGE Marcus Davenport, DT Roy Lopez, CB Avonte Maddox, EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad, WR/KR Kalif Raymond, DT DJ Reader, CB Amik Robertson, LB Grant Stuard, CB Rock Ya-Sin

Potential Cap Cuts: LT Taylor Decker ($17.9 million*), C/G Graham Glasgow ($7 million*), RB David Montgomery ($6 million), S Brian Branch ($5.6 million), TE Brock Wright ($3.7 million*), P Jack Fox ($3.1 million)

(*-Post-June 1)

The tough part about last season is that it could’ve been a precursor to another tempest on the offensive line: losing both Ragnow and Zeitler was awkward enough but the Lions might have to bid farewell to several other big bodies in this process. Detroit enters combine week in Indianapolis just about $10 million over the cap. Beyond the financials, there may be other factors that lead to change: Decker will return after originally inching toward retirement but Glasgow struggled in an unfamiliar role at center last season.

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A post shared by Taylor Decker (@__taylordecker)

That could force the Lions to pull a similar shift with Ratledge (who performed well on the right side with Sewell last year), but it’s another sign that Detroit management’s eyes may have been bigger than its stomach: since Ragnow’s first-round drafting in 2018, Sewell and Ratledge are the only blockers chosen by the Lions within a draft’s opening couple of rounds. Taking current Viking TJ Hockenson six picks before perennial All-Pro guard Chris Lindstrom in 2019, is one mistake that looms particularly large.

Elsewhere, Detroit will also probably look to find a complementary piece for Hutchinson, which proved elusive with injuries and the potential departure of Muhammad, who will likely look to cash in on a career-best season. Fortunately for the Lions, the incoming and veteran classes on both are fairly deep, giving general manager Brad Holmes ample opportunities to pounce and instantly improve. The biggest issue buried within could be the status of Montgomery who, while obviously still effective, carries some much needed cap relief after losing significant reps to Gibbs, who is inching toward what will probably be a hefty extension.

Is There Hope?

Sure, but it will require at least something of a new guard. Everything about the Lions hinted that they were a sustainable juggernaut to contend in the immediate future of the NFC but they were dealt a brutal wake-up call after not addressing the lesser-heralded portions of their roster. That places them in a tenuous situation where they’re sitting relatively uncomfortable.

Detroit went into last season with an aura of avoiding “fixing” something that wasn’t broken but they didn’t prepare much in case of emergency and it came back to bite them (pun intended). Part one of the process began with the ousting of Morton, creating a double-edged sword.

Jameson Williams Detroit Lions — Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The sheer firepower on the Lions offense made their offensive coordinator vacancy one of the more talked-about and sought-after assistant coaching positions on the league ledgers. Petzing now must embrace the intense pressure of performing with the team’s manes against the wall and the fact that the rest of the division has clearly caught up to them, especially with the hallowed Johnson leading the new champions in Chicago, suggests that the Lions, for all they’ve accomplished, are living on borrowed time.

It’s easy to fully blame injuries for marring what has otherwise been a euphoric stretch for damned Detroit. But what happened this year shows that the Lions’ sense of playing with relatively healthy reckless abandon is catching up to them. An offseason splurge on depth could prove to be the perfect bailout.