Has Justin Jefferson played his last game as a Viking?
he could certainly demand a very hefty payday but could wait and see if theres any changes under centre before going to the market.
whats the deal with the final year of rookie contract, can he enter free agency after it expires?
He was a second round pick so no fifth year option. He can be franchise tagged but that means they have to pay him top of the market money fully Guate for one year.
He had said he isnât signing a new deal until the Vikings have a long term plan at QB. Whether it is extend Kirk or do something else.
The Vikings need to blow it up and start over ans their cap is a mess and Cousins contract is a bit of a milestone. I doubt Jefferson wants to play on a rebuilding team for 2 or 3 seasons. Makes it all the more strange that they gave TJ Hockenson a huge extension this summer.
Wouldnât be surprised to see the Vikings trade Kirk before the deadline and go full tank mode. Would the Jets give up a day 2 pick for a rental on Cousins til the end of the season?
Interesting take
Big unit horsing out the Anthem. Fine rendition tbf
Smith fairly smoked him
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There seems to be a distinct lack of updates from our resident Broncos fan this season
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Fantastic piece on the nuances of the lions run game
How Ben Johnson crafted a Lions run game thatâs diverse, unique and a whole lot of fun
3h ago
At age 14, Ben Johnson registered a perfect score on the Mathematical Association of Americaâs AMC 8 exam, a challenging middle school test. In his spare time, Johnson pretended to be Joe Montana.
The son of a school principal, Johnson studied math and computer science at North Carolina. He also was a walk-on in the QB room of Gary Tranquill, an offensive wizard with more than five decades of experience, ranging from head coach at Navy to being one of the first NFLassistants hired by Bill Belichick. Academia never stood a chance.
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Three years ago, Johnson was a smart guy youâd likely never heard of. Today, heâs offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions, in charge of a unit whose uniqueness at the moment can be challenged only by the top offenses in football. Those offenses are run by Kyle Shanahan (San Francisco 49ers), Mike McDaniel (Miami Dolphins) and Nick Sirianni (Philadelphia Eagles) â names you surely recognize.
Through five games this season, Detroitâs offense is the third-most efficient in the NFL, per Pro Football Focus, behind only the Dolphins and 49ers. It is a classic throwback system with zero tendencies and modern wrinkles all over the place. The Lions are 4-1 and leading the NFC North.
Nobody in the NFL runs offense quite like Ben Johnson and Lions coach Dan Campbell. Letâs unpack what makes their attack so much fun.
When Campbell turned his offense over to Johnson midway through the 2021 season, it was as much about making quarterback Jared Goff comfortable as it was finding ways to utilize the few strengths the team had at the time. Those strengths, specifically, were center Frank Ragnow, rookie offensive tackle Penei Sewell and quality veterans like offensive tackle Taylor Decker, guard Jonah Jackson and running back Jamaal Williams.
As a result, Johnson rebuilt the offense to take advantage of where Detroit was best: right up the middle, right in your face. In 2022, with Johnson fully in charge as offensive coordinator following the departure of Anthony Lynn, Williams was one of the few successful lead backs in football to run more gap plays than zone. The Lionsâ offense established an identity rooted in a diverse run game that featured more personnel groups than the average outfit and relied on old-school concepts â like power and counter â that are hard to get right.
Theyâre even harder to defend if an offense has the right linemen, which, of course, the Lions do.
Perhaps the best part: Theyâd run anything, from any personnel group, anywhere on the field. Every game plan during that 2022 season featured a base set of runs (usually gap, though not always) with play-action shots built off them. No two game plans were the same, and Detroit finished the year No. 5 in offensive DVOA. The number of variations on a theme within the Lionsâ playbook (especially with counter and duo) likely is rivaled only by Miami and San Francisco.
In his book âThe 2022 Detroit Lions Complete Offensive Manual,â NFL analyst Bobby Peters charted the Lions as having run 26 different variations of counter alone. Entering 2023, Johnsonâs plan was to do everything all over again â only better and more often.
âWhen we look back at what we did, in self-scout, all of our plays from last year, I came away thinking if we didnât run one new play this year, if we ran all the same plays that we ran last year, then we would be a better offense,â Johnson said this summer. âBecause we (were going to) execute them better than last year.â
Last season, colleague Ted Nguyen charted the Lions with 10 different run concepts (plus multiple variations from nearly every personnel group) in the first two weeks alone. This season, I charted the Lions with 10 in just the first game.
These Lions, true to Johnsonâs word, are running the same stuff but better. And itâs also now become nearly impossible to predict which handful of concepts Johnson and Campbell will favor on a week-to-week basis.
Through five games, Iâve charted the following run calls from the Lions, nearly all of them featuring multiple variations, from every personnel group:
- Duo
- Inside zone
- Power
- Counter
- Wide zone
- Pin-pull sweep
- Crack-toss
- Sift-toss
- Windback
- Zorro, outside zone
- Trap (short, long and tackle trap)
- Crunch
- Jet sweep
- Draw
- Zone-read
- Multiple reverses
By my count, the Lions are averaging 7.2 yards per carry on their power series, 6.6 per carry on their pin-pull sweeps and have scored at least one touchdown each with duo, inside zone, power, counter and even the old-fashioned QB sneak. Another thing that has happened here: The Lions accomplished an offseason personnel upgrade.
Williamsâ specialty was (and remains with the New Orleans Saints) running between the tackles, which is partly why Detroit relied so heavily on counter and duo a year ago. The Williams-DâAndre Swift pairing featured only one perimeter threat, Swift, and his health during three years in Detroit was up-and-down.
The Lions turned heads this spring by drafting Jahmyr Gibbs to replace Swift, but the decision to flip Williams for David Montgomery via free agency was outstanding. Montgomery ranks No. 3 in the NFL with 21 missed tackles forced (two behind Christian McCaffrey) and is as credible a threat on a sweep as he is on a duo play.
A big reason why Swift is off to a great start in Philadelphia is the Eaglesâ reliance on zone runs, which play to his strengths. Of his rushing 76 attempts this season, 61 have been zone runs (per PFF). Detroit asked Swift to shoulder more gap runs a year ago, and the result wasnât ideal.
In Montgomery, Detroit believes it has a credible gap hammer who can also stretch defenses. And while the juryâs out on whether Gibbs is an upgrade over Swift (as Detroit believes him to be), Gibbs is averaging 4.6 yards per carry so far, with 24 gap attempts to 12 zone.
Through five weeks, only the 49ers (59.6 percent) rate higher than Detroit (52.8 percent) in the number of rushes called on first or second down. The Lions are averaging 4.9 yards per carry on first down, have netted 18 first downs on second-down calls and are averaging 4 yards per crack on third down. Detroitâs offensive DVOA rates No. 4 in the NFL. Johnson, Campbell and offensive line coach Hank Fraley have hammered detail relentlessly and, as a result, have helped the Lions create offensive answers for just about any situation.
Also credit that success to the uniqueness of the Lionsâ offensive line. Ragnow and Sewell are perennial Pro Bowl talents, Jackson is one of the most underrated guards in the NFL, Decker has been with the franchise longer than anyone and veteran guards Graham Glasgow and Halapoulivaati Vaitai are capable starters.
Not unlike San Francisco or Philadelphia, Detroitâs front can handle just about anybody inside the tackle box while also maintaining the collective athleticism to just destroy people in space. Itâs not uncommon for Detroit to root half its game plan around a particular counter run designed to attack the interior, and the other half around an outside zone or sweep series.
Defensively, youâre on alert for literally every type of run in the book â on first, second and third down.
One particular sweep thatâs been successful for the Lions early this season has been the pin-pull concept (as drawn above). Ragnowâs athleticism gives Detroit the ability to run this concept against more fronts than most teams can. Certain calls will see Ragnow pull with the left guard; others will feature both guards pulling as Ragnow stays home.
In addition, Detroit â a heavy motion team â likes to run its Z receiver away from where the ballâs going to wind up. The Lions have expansive jet-sweep and receiver-screen sets, which give defenders more to think about in situations like this.
Detroit gashed Kansas City on runs of 17 and 18 yards using this concept, before bringing it back periodically against both Seattle and Atlanta. Then, in Green Bay, the other great piece of this offense showed itself.
Every run in this playbook has some type of action off it, be it a pass or another run.
Youâll note in the clip above that things look a bit different, as thereâs no motion and the back is lined up opposite the tight end. However, for the defensive eyes in the tackle box (and the safeties) staring into the backfield, this looks like the pin-pull concept their coaches likely hammered all week in film prep. Just as the defense reacts, Detroit hits the reverse to Kalif Raymond for a huge play.
Pin-pull is just one wrinkle on a theme, of course. The true beauty of the Lionsâ full run package lives in Johnsonâs ability to shelve a particular concept the Lions are typically good at blocking â like duo, a power-without-the-puller concept â if itâs not hitting, only to bring it back later. That callback might come later in the same game or against another team entirely, in a spot when the defense isnât really looking for it.
In fact, the Lions did that this season. After netting just 11 yards on its first six counter attempts versus Kansas City and Seattle, Detroit more or less put it away against Atlanta in Week 3. Instead, it built more concepts off the edge in that game, with some creative waggle-action throws off them.
Then, come Week 4 at Green Bay, Detroit brought its counter series back into a more featured role, running it four times for 23 yards â the best output that play had given the Lions to date. Beyond that, Johnson also packaged a handful of counter passes (as noted in the slideshow up top), including a 20-yarder to Josh Reynolds in the second half of that game.
Johnsonâs creativity and Campbellâs dedication to a powerful identity are the chief drivers behind one of the leagueâs top offenses over the last year-plus. However, the bulk of the credit here goes to Detroitâs offensive line, which is now getting the type of national praise it has deserved for a bit.
In 2021, Campbell and his staff inherited a football team without much of anything to hang its hat on beyond a handful of linemen people forgot about and some really valuable draft picks.
Campbell said the day he was hired in January 2021 that the Lions would be built to reflect the city of Detroit, the culture of its residents and what the fans wanted from their football team. From there, GM Brad Holmes and Campbell simply decided to double and triple down on the areas of the roster that were already strong. Day by day, people matured, voices grew, talent blossomed and a system â one thatâs completely and totally unique to this version of the Detroit Lions â was born organically.
From the organization, to be sure, it was a stroke of genius â with a coaching staff that includes at least one of â
@Tank gave up a 24 first for Monty in a dynasty league weâre in together, I think heâs mad but it looks like a good short term investment
For context @Big_Dan_Campbell this is a dynasty league where I got lucky and was first pick and got Mahomes and McCaffrey. Iâve currently the most points scored through the first 5 weeks but Nick Chubb was my RB2 so I need to replace him to have a chance of winning it out and my first round pick probably wont be that great anyway.
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Mother of Gawd 
Best wishes bro
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Those are the moves you have to make, but you should have gotten a bit more back
I think Montyâs very good though. He was underrated at Chicago, they havent had as good since, and now heâs out performing Gibbs and arguably Swift.
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A RB is only as good as the offensive line and chicagos was shit and still is. Montgomery is an rb1 on a 3 year deal. I can see exactly why you made that trade.
Iâd have a niggling worry that Gibbs will get more touches as the season goes on, and take the main role eventually.
But Monty has piloted my worst fantasy team to a 5-0, playing with one QB (cousins) and usually 4 tight ends
He has a knack of playing for teams while their O-lines are strong.
Monty will get 60% of the carries but Gibbs will get far more touches in the passing game. Monty is going to get the vast majority of the goal line stuff though snd id say he will rush for 20+ TDs this year if he stays healthy
And remember last year what the goal line back for the Lions was worth and he hardly did anything else IIRC
Hey weâll see how this works out, he might break his neck tomorrow touch wood.