The Detroit Lions are widely considered one of the best teams in the NFL and a Super Bowl contender going into the 2024 season, and that was accurately reflected in a recent pre-training camp power rankings.
According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Lions are the No. 3 team in the NFL as the most important part of the offseason approaches in late July.
The only teams ranked ahead of Detroit are the Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs (No. 1), and the team that ended the Lions’ season in the NFC Championship Game, the San Francisco 49ers (No. 2).
Here’s Florio’s hard-hitting analysis:
3. Lions: The hard part is getting to a 17-point halftime lead in the NFC Championship. The easy part is holding it.
Granted, the Lions should have handily beaten the Niners in the conference title game after grabbing such a big lead, but they didn’t, which is why it’s appropriate to rank them behind San Francisco.
But the Lions should be in a much better position to hold such a lead in 2024, as the team has beefed up its defense, and especially on the back end, where Detroit added several new corners, including veteran Carlton Davis and first-round pick Terrion Arnold.
The Lions should have been in the Super Bowl last year, no doubt, but general manager Brad Holmes has his team even better positioned to get there after an impressive offseason.