The Commissioner wants the playoff tree to be reconfigured to tie seeding to record, without regard to whether a team won its division. The goal isn’t to promote equity when it comes to who’s at home and who’s on the road in the playoffs; the objective is to make late-season games more compelling by giving teams more to play for.
Whether that happens remains to be seen.
If the Commissioner gets his way on this (yes, the Lions proposed it, but the league office instigated it), it creates a separate issue as it relates to the scheduling formula.
Currently, every team plays: (1) six games against the three other teams in its division; (2) four games against all teams from another division in the conference, which rotates every year; (3) two games against the teams from the remaining divisions in the conference that finished in the same position the year before (first, second, third, fourth); (4) four games against all teams from a division in the other conference, which rotates every year; and (5) one game against a team from a division in the other conference that finished in the same position the year before.
By devaluing a division championship and emphasizing competition within the conference, the eight games every year that arise from an effort to ensure variety in schedule need to be reconsidered. Last year, the teams of the NFC North benefited from playing two of the weak divisions — the AFC South and NFC West. This year, it’ll be a much different story for the Lions, Vikings, Packers, and Bears; they play eight games against the teams of the AFC North and NFC East.
Likewise, the Rams have a very real chance at being in the No. 1 seed in 2025, given that they’ll play eight games against the teams of the AFC South and NFC South.
If a team’s record relative not to its division but to its conference will take on more importance in a playoff tree constructed based on total record, teams need to play more games in their conference. Ideally, every team would play one game against every other team in its conference — like college conferences did before they became too big to allow that.
The most fair construction of the schedule, if the “Lions” proposal passes, would consist of 15 conference games and two interconference games. But that would reduce the variety of the schedule dramatically.
Our guess? 345 Park Avenue won’t be bothered by such niceties of competitive integrity. The current effort is aimed at making late-season games more interesting and, in turn, more valuable to the networks and, in turn, more valuable to the league.
If an effort to overhaul the schedule is going to happen, it will require a groundswell from the teams. A groundswell strong enough to overcome the inertia of a league off that will not care about the inequity that flows from using apples-and-oranges scheduling to create what will be an apples-to-apples comparison of records.
The best decision, then, will be to kick this greed-driven idea to 2026, and to ask the “Lions” to resubmit their proposal regarding playoff seeding with a companion proposal as to how the scheduling formula will be changed to make the new approach far more fair than it will be if the change if made as of 2025.
The Lions have signed another member of their draft class.
Wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa posted a picture of himself signing his four-year rookie deal on Tuesday morning. The third-round pick is the fifth of seven Lions picks to agree to terms on his first NFL contract.
The Lions traded two 2026 third-round picks to the Jaguars to move up to No. 70 in order to select TeSlaa.
TeSlaa had 62 catches for 896 yards and five touchdowns while playing at Arkansas the last two years. He moved to the SEC school after starting his college time at Division II Hillsdale.
Aman-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Tim Patrick, Kalif Raymond, Tom Kennedy, Ronnie Bell, and seventh-rounder Dominic Lovett are also in the mix for playing time at receiver.
The Lions aren’t taking probably not for an answer.
Detroit has resubmitted a proposal that strips the automatic home game for division champions and seeds all seven playoff participants based on record.
The proposal, revised to make it read a little more cleanly, would take the seven playoff participants (division winners and three wild cards) and seed them based on record.
Although the proposal came from the Lions and not from the Competition Committee, Detroit president Rod Wood admitted last month that the proposal was made at the behest of the league office. We thereafter reported that the Commissioner wants this change, in the hopes of making late-season games more compelling.
By not putting the issue to a vote in March, the Commissioner didn’t take the L. Since then, he’s had time to twist arms and/or do deals in an effort to get to 24 votes.
Under the current system, division winners often lock into a specific seed with a week or two left in the season. With no fear of losing their spot on the playoff tree, they can rest starters in Week 17 and/or 18.
It’s all about ensuring that as many games as possible are interesting and compelling, so that the various and ever-expanding standalone windows will include games worth watching.
The rule, if passed, also would eliminate the potential inequity of requiring a wild-card team with a superior record to travel to face a division winner with a lesser record. Still, it’s not about competitive fairness in the playoffs; it’s about trying to ensure that more games will be more interesting in the final weeks of the regular season.
Linebacker Alex Anzalone missed a big chunk of the 2024 season because of injury and the Lions defense had a hard time without him, but no one in Detroit is sweating Anzalone’s absence from the team’s offseason program.
Anzalone is heading into the final year of his contract and has made social media posts hinting at a desire to get a new deal done, but he’s also missed voluntary work in past seasons and defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said this week that no one is worried about Anzalone being ready for the season.
“Me and Alex are all good,” Sheppard said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I have zero concern. That player is a leader here and he’s been a leader here, he’s been an intricate piece in building the culture that’s here and I’m going to pay the respect that he’s earned and that he’s due, and whatever his private situations are, I’ll let Alex address those when he’s face-to-face with you all.”
The Lions are not holding a mandatory minicamp, so the next time Anzalone will be obligated to join the team is at the start of training camp this summer.
There are no full-fledged practice sessions during the offseason, but the Lions have done enough on-field work to convince defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard of one important fact.
Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson has been taking part in the team’s offseason program after last season’s broken leg and Sheppard said that he’s seen enough from the 2022 first-round pick to feel “elated” about how Hutchinson’s recovery has played out.
“I went over there in individual and I said, ‘Look, you know how I know you’re back?’ He’s like, ‘How?’” Sheppard said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I said, ‘Because you’re touching that ground when you run that hoop.’ And that’s this little thing he does like he’s some supernatural cat, which he is. But I’m like, ‘That’s how I know you’re back, Big Dog.’”
Hutchinson had 28.5 sacks in his first 39 NFL games, which makes it easy to understand why Sheppard would be thrilled by signs that he has returned to his pre-injury form.
When the Lions and Rams swapped quarterbacks Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff in 2021, few could have imagined how well it would work out for both teams: Stafford has won a Super Bowl with the Rams, while the Lions have become one of the best teams in the NFL with Goff as their quarterback — and with the draft picks they got in that trade.
The Rams and Lions should both be playoff contenders again this year, and that makes their Week 15 matchup a big one. They’ll meet on Sunday, December 14, at 4:25 p.m. ET on Fox, and there’s a good chance the game will have NFC playoff implications for both teams. Stafford said on NFL Network that he’s looking forward to facing off against Goff, Lions coach Dan Campbell and the rest of his former team.
“That’ll be fun,” Stafford said. “We’ve had some great matchups. Dan and Jared and those guys did a hell of a job the last couple years getting that thing turned in the right direction. They’re playing really good football. Lost some coordinators and that’s a challenge. Every season is a new season when you step out there and go play. Definitely had some great matchups the last couple years against those guys. It’ll be interesting having it in our place in December. I’m sure it’ll be another good battle.”
Stafford has faced the Lions three times, twice in the regular season and once in the playoffs. His Rams won the first meeting at home in 2021. The other two matchups have been in Detroit, and the Lions won both, in the playoffs after the 2023 season and then in Week One of the 2024 season. Stafford will hope to even the score in Week 14.
The NFL revealed one of the three Thanksgiving games during their pre-schedule release leaks this week and the other two became official on Wednesday evening.
The Lions will host the Packers in the first game of the annual tripleheader and the Bengals will be in Baltimore to face the Ravens in the nightcap. The Chiefs’ visit to the Cowboys in the late afternoon slot was announced ahead of those games.
Green Bay was a yearly opponent of the Lions on Thanksgiving in the 1950s and 1960s, but they have appeared less frequently in recent decades. They beat the Lions 29-22 in 2023 and beat the Dolphins at home last year, so this will be their third straight appearance on the fourth Thursday of November.
The Bengals have only made one appearance on Thanksgiving and lost to the Jets in 2010. The Ravens are 2-0 on the holiday while the Packers are 16-20-2 and the Lions are 38-45-2.
Last year, the Lions and the rest of the NFC North had an easy schedule, thanks to a rotation that had them playing the four teams of the NFC West and the four teams of the AFC South.
This year, the rotation takes them to the AFC North and NFC East. It also takes the Lions outdoors for seven of their nine road games.
They’ll play at the Bears, Packers, Commanders, Eagles, Bengals, Ravens, and Chiefs. The Lions will surely be at the mercy of Mother Nature for three or four of those games. Even if the conditions are pristine, none will translate to easy wins — especially since the Lions continue to wear a fairly large target.
The two biggest cupcakes on the 2025 schedule (Browns and Giants), based on their 3-14 records in 2024, play in Detroit. The only other non-division foe with a losing record in 2024 is the Cowboys, who were 7-10 and also come to Detroit.
Every team the Lions play on the road, with the exception of the Bears, finished on the right side of .500 last year. Seven of them made the playoffs.
With the Lions losing both coordinators and multiple other members of the coaching staff in January, it would be helpful to face some of the lesser teams early. That will help the new-look staff build confidence and avoid the kind of adversity the Lions of the last two years haven’t experienced.
It’s the most important aspect of the schedule release, for most teams. The opponents have been known since the moment the regular season ended. The order becomes critical to setting the tone for the season.
An early-season gauntlet can sow doubt. An early-season cakewalk can build confidence.
While the Lions remain one of the best teams in the league from a talent standpoint, significant changes have been made to Dan Campbell’s staff. They’ll be better off with smooth sailing in September than a series of losses that could make the players start to wonder whether the window is closing in on closing.
The full NFL schedule for Christmas Day has been released.
The NFL and Netflix announced that the Cowboys will visit the Commanders at 1 p.m. ET and that the Lions will be in Minnesota at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, December 25. The league announced that that the Broncos will be in Kansas City for the nightcap earlier this week.
Wednesday’s announcement means that the Cowboys and Lions will be doubling up on Thanksgiving and Christmas this season, although, as tradition dictates, they will be at home for the prior holiday. The Chiefs will also be playing on both holidays as they’ve been announced as the Cowboys’ guest in November.
The Commanders are one of four teams set for a Week 16 Saturday doubleheader and there was some thought that they could double up as Christmas participants because they’d have an extra day of rest before the Week 17 action. The Eagles, Packers, and Bears will be playing later during Christmas week, however.
After spending over a decade as head coach at his alma mater, Stanford, David Shaw made his way back to the pros as a senior personnel advisor for the Broncos last year.
But Shaw has put his coaching hat back on for 2025, as he’ll serve as Detroit’s passing game coordinator.
It’s been two decades since Shaw was last an NFL coach, though he’s apparently had several opportunities to return to the league. Shaw told reporters on Tuesday that on average, he “probably turned down three” NFL interviews a year during his first decade as Stanford’s head coach.
“I had a great job and I wanted to get the most out of it,” Shaw said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “So that was the thing for me was I always wanted to go back to the NFL, but so much of is about timing and I loved what I was doing. I loved where I was doing it and I loved who I was doing it with.
“And for a decade, we were a top-10 winning team, which not only Stanford but no academically high-ranking team has ever had a run like that. And I wanted to finish that run, knowing that whatever was next was going to be next.”
Now Shaw is with Detroit, coaching alongside offensive coordinator John Morton — who called Shaw his best friend. The two first worked together with the Raiders back in 1998, and Morton said landing Shaw is “a big deal for me because he’s my soundboard.”
With the Lions, Shaw says he doesn’t want to “disturb any of the positives” from the last few years when the offense was led by now-Bears head coach Ben Johnson.
“We’re not saying we’re going to come back and do a carbon copy of last year,” Shaw said. “Last year’s dead. It’s gone. It’s in the history books. We got a chance to write another chapter, so we’re not going to be ogling at what happened last year.
“We’re also not going to be held to it, either. Brand new year, different players, different coaches, different opponents. So it’s really taking stock in who we have and what we have and make sure that we get the most out of everybody in the building. Coaches, players, everybody.”
