Detroit Lions 2023 season grades: Dan Campbell skipped a step in rebuild process
End-of-season grades for the Detroit Lions are coming a little later than usual this year, and that’s a good thing.
The Lions won 12 regular-season games for the second time in franchise history (and the first time since 1991), won their division for the first time since 1993 and won two playoff games for the first time in the Super Bowl era. They advanced to the NFC championship game, where one bad half of football kept them from playing next weekend in Super Bowl 58.
It was a storybook season in many ways, one that swept fans across the state off their feet. Home games were sellouts. Road games were parties. And the playoffs provided lasting memories for everyone who was there (or tuned in at home).
This season will go down as a success once the sting of last week’s playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers fades, which inevitably will take time for all parties involved.
“You’re juggling a handful of emotions and knowing that getting this far is an accomplishment but losing this game is devastating,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said after the game. “It doesn’t feel good and you walk off the field, you see them celebrating and knowing there were plays to be had out there for us that weren’t made and you think, ‘Oh, that should be us celebrating this win.’
“It is hard to juggle both of them, and like I said earlier at the beginning of this, yeah, they’re a great team and so are we and they beat us today, but we’ve got a lot of great pieces in there and expect to continue to be playing winning football for quite some time.”
The bar will be raised in the future. At some point, reaching the NFC title game won’t be good enough. But these grades are reflective of one of the best seasons in franchise history, all that went right and the little there was wrong.
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Quarterback
Jared Goff didn’t make the cut of five finalists for the NFL’s MVP award, but the impact he had on the Lions wasn’t that far off from a couple of those who did (Dak Prescott, Josh Allen). Goff completed a career-best 67.3% of his passes in the regular season while throwing for 4,575 yards and 30 touchdowns. He took his play up a notch in the playoffs, when he played three turnover-free games.
Goff was far from perfect, and he doesn’t impact games the way Allen or presumptive league MVP Lamar Jackson do with their legs. He had a rough four-game stretch in November and December, in which he threw five interceptions and lost four fumbles, and he fluttered a few passes when the Lions needed more from him in their loss to the 49ers.
Overall, Goff was sharp with timing routes, good in the play-action game and adept at getting the offense in the right play call. He attempted the second-most passes of at least 20 yards downfield in the NFL (behind only San Francisco's Brock Purdy), though he struggled at times against pressure when the Lions were juggling personnel on their offensive line. But after coming to Detroit three years ago labeled as a “bridge quarterback" at best, he proved he can win in the postseason and earned what should be a massive contract extension this offseason. Grade: A-minus
Running backs
The Lions had the most productive running back tandem in the NFL as Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery combined for 1,960 yards rushing and 23 touchdowns. Montgomery had the second 1,000-yard season of his career, and Gibbs just missed hitting the mark after arriving as the 12th overall pick in last April’s draft.
Gibbs is pure electricity with the ball. He seems to take handoffs at full speed, he’s capable of breaking a long run on any play and he was one of only four running backs to average more than 5 yards per carry this season. Montgomery was the slugger the Lions used to deliver body blows early in games and the closer in their 4-minute offense. His rushing success rate of 54.8%, according to Pro Football Reference, was better than likely Offensive Player of the Year Christian McCaffrey (54%).
There is plenty of room for improvement in the running back corps, though. Montgomery and Craig Reynolds allowed two sacks each, according to my charting of plays, Gibbs was not the receiving threat (just 316 yards on 52 catches, and eight drops according to PFR) many expected coming out of college, and both Gibbs and Montgomery had costly fumbles that impacted games, with Gibbs’ losing a key third-quarter turnover against the 49ers. Grade: B-plus
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Receivers/tight ends
The Lions had two standout performers in this group who would get A's if I was handing out individual grades. Amon-Ra St. Brown cemented himself as one of the best receivers in the NFL with a 119-catch, 1,515-yard, 10-touchdown season. There’s not a better player at moving the chains — 75 of St. Brown’s catches (63%) went for first downs this season — or a player more trusted by Goff, despite a career-high eight drops this season, according to PFR.
St. Brown earned first-team All-Pro honors for his work, and rookie tight end Sam LaPorta was a second-team selection after setting an NFL rookie record for tight ends with 86 catches and racking up 889 yards and 10 TDs. Goff did throw three interceptions on passes intended for LaPorta, so the rookie might have to tighten some things up this offseason, but he was a better blocker than expected and had a standout season at one of the toughest positions for young players to make an impact at in the NFL.
The rest of the Lions’ receiving corps was just OK; Josh Reynolds was the only other Lion to top 35 catches and 500 yards. Reynolds played well most of the year, though he was slowed by an early-season injury. He led the Lions at 15.2 yards per catch but had two costly drops in the 49ers game. Jameson Williams seemed to earn Goff’s trust late in the year, when the Lions’ vision for how to use his speed became evident. But he missed all of September on suspension, had drop problems upon his return and had just as many plays on which he missed a block or got turned around on a route as he did plays with big gains.
The Lions didn’t get many receiving contributions from backup tight ends Brock Wright or James Mitchell, though Wright had a big catch in the playoffs and earned high marks from tight ends coach Steve Heiden for his blocking. And at receiver, Kalif Raymond’s biggest impact came in the return game. Neither rookie Antoine Green nor midseason addition Donovan Peoples-Jones cracked the rotation. Grade: B
Offensive line
The Lions once again had one of the best offensive lines in the NFL — the group was the single biggest reason the offense was so dominant even as it started nine different combinations throughout the year. The Lions finished fifth in the league at 4.6 yards per rush and third in opponent sack percentage (5.1%). Of the 40 sacks they allowed, in the regular season and playoffs and including two nullified by penalty, I assigned blame to an offensive lineman on only 27.
Penei Sewell is the best right tackle in football. He’s unmatched as an athlete for his size, and the Lions take full advantage of his athleticism on pulling plays and by getting him to the second level. Both Sewell (first-team) and center Frank Ragnow (second-team) earned All-Pro honors this season, and Ragnow did so while playing through a quartet of injuries. I thought Ragnow had his best season since 2020, and his ability to identify pressures is unmatched.
The Lions were better at run blocking than pass blocking, and utility man Graham Glasgow finished second in the regular season in run-block win rate, according to ESPN. Glasgow had some slip-ups in pass protection against the Packers early in the season and then again in the playoffs, but he was invaluable starting at all three interior line spots. Taylor Decker ranked seventh in pass-block win rate, according to ESPN, though I had him with 8½ sacks allowed and an especially rough December loss to the Bears. The Lions had a revolving door at left guard all season as Jonah Jackson battled injuries and Colby Sorsdal (a 2023 fifth-round pick) and Kayode Awosika (in his third season) were inconsistent in his absence. The line functions as a unit, though, and there weren’t many better in the NFL. Grade: A-minus
Defensive line
It was a mixed year for the Lions up front. Aidan Hutchinson played at a Pro Bowl level in his second NFL season. He had 14½ sacks (including the playoffs) and three forced fumbles while the Lions had one of the best run defenses in the league. But they struggled to generate pressure with their four-man rush and that led to some big days by opposing quarterbacks.
Hutchinson was the Lions’ best defensive player this season, though he didn’t consistently get home on quarterbacks — he had two sacks in a 10-game stretch from mid-October through Christmas — as he faced regular double teams. He finished with an impressive 33 quarterback hits (more than Myles Garrett and equal to Micah Parsons) and was dominant in playoff wins over the Rams and Buccaneers, but he didn’t make a tackle against the 49ers.
Alim McNeill was the Lions’ second-best defensive lineman. He showed more prowess as a pass rusher (five sacks) than he did in his first two years, but wasn’t as impactful after a December knee injury. Benito Jones wasn’t a favorite of Pro Football Focus, which ranked him 124th out of 130 defensive linemen, but he was a dirty-work defender who played an important role in the Lions’ success vs. the run.
At defensive end, Josh Paschal had big moments late in the season, but finished with one sack and missed time with injuries; Charles Harris and James Houston (due to injury) were nonfactors most of the year. The Lions need more pass rush out of both the edge and interior spots going forward. Grade: B-minus
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Linebackers
The Lions asked their linebackers to wear a lot of different hats this season, and they parsed out roles to four different players much of the year. Alex Anzalone was the standout of the group with a career-high and team-leading 129 tackles. He was effective as a blitzer with three sacks and 12 quarterback hits, he tied a career-high with seven tackles-for-loss and he was at his best with 15 tackles in the Lions’ comeback win over the Bears in November.
Both Jack Campbell and Derrick Barnes saw time as edge rushers because of the Lions’ struggles up front getting to the quarterback. Campbell’s rookie season got off to a slow start and he had a penchant for overrunning plays at times as teams used his aggressiveness against him, but he finished on a high note with a strong season finale against the Vikings and seven tackles in the playoff loss to the 49ers.
Barnes saved his biggest highlight for the postseason, too, when he made a game-clinching interception against the Buccaneers in the divisional round. The third-year linebacker had his best season as a pro with 81 tackles, and he had a lower missed-tackle percentage (8%) than either Anzalone (14.6%) or Campbell (9.5%), per Pro Football Reference. Jalen Reeves-Maybin was effective in a limited role as a coverage linebacker late in the season on passing downs. Grade: B
Defensive backs
For the Lions to take a step forward in 2024, they’ll need to make serious improvements to their secondary. The Lions finished 27th in passing yards allowed this year and got subpar play from their cornerbacks. Their lack of a four-man pass rush didn’t help, but they simply have no one in the back end who can handle No. 1 receivers.
Cam Sutton had one interception and six pass breakups in 17 starts as the Lions’ de facto No. 1 cornerback. He had a 112.3 passer rating against, according to Pro Football Reference, was torched in the playoffs by Mike Evans and Puka Nacua and missed three tackles against the 49ers. Jerry Jacobs opened the season as the Lions’ No. 2 cornerback and had three interceptions in a two-game span early in the season, but lost his job to Kindle Vildor in December. Vildor had two pass breakups and forced a fumble in five regular season games, but had a 114.8 passer rating against and allowed a key 51-yard second-half completion to Brandon Aiyuk on a deep ball that bounced off his facemask in the NFC title game
The Lions did get breakout seasons from two players in the back end. 2023 second-round pick Brian Branch has potential to be one of the best slot cornerbacks in the league, though the Lions may find him time at safety in the near future. He’s a playmaker who had 13 pass breakups, seven TFLs, three interceptions and one forced fumble as a rookie. Ifeatu Melifonwu only played half a season on defense, but he had two picks, three sacks and showed an advanced feel for blitzing that has him penciled in as a starter for 2024.
The Lions didn’t get any bang for their buck for the money they spent on defensive backs in free agency, as C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Emmanuel Moseley missed most of the season with injuries. Kerby Joseph had a team-high four interceptions, and Tracy Walker probably has played his last game as a Lion after filling for Gardner-Johnson early in the year before losing his starting job to Melifonwu. Grade: C
Special teams
The Lions went 2-for-3 on fake conversions this season, with Reeves-Maybin running for a first down deep in Lions territory in a Week 1 win over the Kansas City Chiefs and throwing for a first down from a similar spot on the field in a Week 17 loss to the Dallas Cowboys. They did fail to convert one fake, but their aggressiveness in the kicking game — on fakes, kickoffs and returns — is why I’m higher on their play overall this year than Rick Gosselin’s well-respected special teams rankings (20th) suggest.
The Lions led the NFL in opponent drive start as they routinely challenged teams to return kicks most of the year. Jack Fox had a career-low 40.9-yard net punting average, but he was strong down the stretch. He bombed a 74-yard punt against the 49ers that should have been downed inside the 5 and netted 49.3 yards on three punts that pinned the Rams inside the 10-yard line. And Reeves-Maybin was a Pro Bowl pick as one of the best coverage players in the league.
Raymond had a solid year returning punts (11.4 yards per return), but didn’t make any splash plays, and the kicking game once again dragged this unit down. Michael Badgley was a perfect 4-for-4 on field goals, including a 54-yarder against the Rams in the playoffs, after taking over for Riley Patterson (15-for-17) late in the season. Still, the Lions missed four extra points (including blocks) and didn’t have a reliable kicker from distance that skewed how they approached some long field goal situations. Grade: B
Coaching
Full disclosure: I am one of 50 voters for the NFL’s end-of-season awards, which are announced next week, and I cast my ballot for Coach of the Year for Dan Campbell at the end of the regular season. The Lions seemed to skip a step in their rebuild this year, and I thought Campbell’s leadership and his staff’s ability to develop talent and game plan were big reasons why.
Campbell deserves some criticism for the 49ers loss. I don’t have a huge problem with his fourth-down decisions in that game, though I would have kicked the second field goal while trailing. I didn’t like the third-and-goal run play with a minute left, though it’s a touchdown if Williams doesn’t miss a block. His biggest failing, I thought, was that he didn’t do enough to stop the bleeding when things went wrong in the second half, even though he had no control over the player mistakes on the field.
From a play-calling standpoint, offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is one of the most gifted minds in the game. He’s creative and comfortable with outside-the-box thinking (running on third-and-long, for instance), and his offense proved tougher to stop this year even though opponents had a better book on his plays. Defensively, the Lions weren’t great this season, but neither was their personnel. Aaron Glenn deserves credit for taking a more blitz-heavy approach midway through the season and not panicking at the results when disaster struck.
I could nitpick plays or moments in every game I disagree with, like going for 2 from the 7-yard line against Dallas (after the infamous "failure to report" by Decker). Overall, though, I think Campbell’s aggressive approach has a trickle-down effect that yields winning football, and the belief and buy-in he gets from players is unmatched. The Lions wouldn’t have been as close as they were to the Super Bowl if Campbell wasn’t their coach. Grade: A-minus
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Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions 2023 final grades: Dan Campbell skipped step in rebuild
