The Lions enter the season as one of the favorites to win the Super Bowl, yet again.
Since mid-way through 2022, Detroit has been on a tear, winning 35 of its last 44 regular-season football games. Although they went 15-2 and secured the No. 1 seed in the NFC last season, their disappointing playoff performance due to injuries soured their season.
Heading into 2025, it is Super Bowl or bust for Lions fans. Now that Detroit has had a taste of success, the standard is growing higher and higher for Dan Campbell and the Lions. While some analysts continue disrespecting them, one just validated what I have been preaching all offseason.
NFL analyst ranks Lions as one of the most complete teams in the NFL
Eric Edholm of NFL.com ranked the top 10 most complete rosters in the NFL going into the 2025 season. My main argument all offseason long is that, regardless of the Lions losing their coordinators, they still have one of the best rosters in the NFL, and Edholm agrees.
Edholm ranked the Lions as the third most complete roster in the NFL for 2025. He has them just under the defending champion Eagles at No. 1 and the Ravens at No. 2.
"One of the Lions’ biggest offseason challenges is implementing two new coordinators after Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn earned head-coaching jobs," said Edholm. "Helping the matter: The talent in Detroit remains very strong. GM Brad Holmes has built one of the best rosters in the league."
Understandably, some fans and analysts are concerned about the Lions' ability to win games without their two coordinators, but that seems extreme to me. Ben Johnson is a mastermind, but he needed this perfect Lions offense to succeed, and Aaron Glenn's job was called for nearly every week.
The addition of D.J. Reed to this Lions secondary will prove to be massive as the season goes on, but a big criticism of the Lions' offseason was that it was their only move. Edholm makes a fantastic point as to why the Lions have way more additions than people realize.
"Defensively, they’ll improve simply by getting back a hoard of injured players from last season, starting with Aidan Hutchinson, but the Lions also added pieces to all three levels," said Edholm.
Guys like Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Marcus Davenport, Alex Anzalone, Malcolm Rodriguez, Derrick Barnes, and plenty of others will be rejoining the Lions in 2025 and can all be looked at as additions to the team that lost in the divisional round last season.
When you look at this team, outside of question marks at guard and a second edge rusher, this Lions roster is pretty close to perfect. The offense should be back to the top of the league considering their immense talent, and the defense is the best it's been under Dan Campbell.
While last season ended on a sour note, and the Lions lost both coordinators this offseason, their roster remains impeccable, and that alone puts them in the conversation for a trip to Super Bowl 60 in Santa Clara.
