ESPN” What A Terrible Sad News: You Must Go For The Suspension Lions Coach ‘Dan Campbell’ For Insulting The Official

After falling just short of making it to Super Bowl LVIII, the Detroit Lions are a popular early Super Bowl pick for next year among ESPN’s contingent of NFL writers.

As outlined by Jeff Risdon of Lions Wire, “void years” have become a tool in NFL contracts to manage the salary cap and the Detroit Lions have used them a lot. With that comes taking on some dead money in those years, and the Lions have greatly reduced those unintended obligations over the last couple years.

Friday marked five days after Super Bowl LVIII. That’s become a common day for a player’s contract to be set to void. The Lions had seven players with that void trigger. That does not mean they can sign anywhere right away. Just like any other player on an expired contract, they will still become an unrestricted free agent on March 13.

Clay has the Lions beating the Texans. Graziano has the Bengals beating the Lions. Reid has the Chiefs beating the Lions. Tannenbaum has the Lions beating the Chargers. Thiry also has the Chiefs beating the Lions.

Among the Super Bowl matchup predictions by these ESPN analysts, the Chiefs are also in five of them-and predicted to win all five. The Green Bay Packers are in three of the predicted matchups, with the Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams in two apiece. The defending NFC champion 49ers are in one early predicted Super Bowl LIX matchup.

Making these kind of predictions for the next season so close to the end of a season is easy fodder to feed the ongoing appetite for NFL coverage. But it is interesting that so many of these ESPN NFL analysts think the Lions will take the next step and make, or even win, the Super Bowl next season.

The 2021 draft class was the launch point of the Detroit Lions’ rebuild, and here’s what those extension candidates may get in their next contracts as their rookie deals get set to expire.

During his memorable season-ending press conference, Brad Holmes tallied receipts about his first draft class as Detroit Lions’ general manager.

“When you look back at those picks, those picks were not welcomed by many in this room,” Holmes said. “Dave (Birkett), you wanted us to pick a quarterback. You didn’t want us to pick Penei Sewell. People didn’t want us to wait until the fourth round to draft a wide receiver (Amon-Ra St. Brown). People didn’t want to wait on a Derrick Barnes to develop.”

That first draft class was the first bricks in a foundation of a rebuild that yielded a trip to the NFC Championship Game in Year 3. Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown are the clear cut building blocks. Alim McNeill is a budding star after a breakout third season. Ifeatu Melifonwu was finally healthy and became a force down the stretch of the just-completed season. Derrick Barnes had a mostly excellent third season.

That’s five of the Lions’ seven picks in the 2021 NFL Draft, and as of right now all seven are somewhere on the roster. That feels like it’s rare around the league, even as relatively recent as it is. Those players are all now eligible for contract extensions, having completed three seasons in the league.

So let’s look at those extension-eligible players, in the order they were drafted in 2021 (with round and pick number), and what a new deal might look like for them.