Lions have HUGE questions with MAJOR implications......

Coming into the season opener for the Lions, the biggest question marks obviously were on the defensive side of the ball. Now an even bigger question that could have major implications for the Lions is defensive coordinator Kelvin Shepherd coaching for his job here in 2026. Is he on the hot seat? We're gonna dive into those questions and a whole lot more on this edition of Lions Digest. Hey everybody, yours truly here, Captain Once again, I would like to invite those of you that are checking us out for the first time. Welcome to Lions Digest. I invite you and everybody else to hit that subscribe button. It's free. Help us get to our goal of a thousand subscribers before the season opener. We blew past our 500 sub goal this past weekend. It's just proving that you are one of the most loyal fan bases, one of the most passionate ones in all the professional sports, not just in the NFL. And I say thank you for that. The response has been absolutely mind-blowing. It's been amazing. And I say thank you. And also, I want to remind everybody, check us out Thursday night, our first live stream. We're gonna preview the upcoming season. We're gonna make our predictions, what the records are gonna be, take a look at the NFC North, all of that and a whole lot more. Live discussion, seven o'clock Thursday. Mark it on your calendar right here. The first live preview show here on Lions Digest. Would love to have all of you take part in that. Really excited for that. Of course, that's on Thursday at seven o'clock Eastern Time. All right, one of the burning questions for the Lions coming into 2026, obviously the defensive side of the ball. Now they slipped in 2025. I know injuries may have had a part of it, but they regressed. Now the big question coming into 2026, can they potentially get back to that form they had a few years ago? And even a more burning question for the Lions, is Calvin Shepard, is he on the hot seat? As defensive coordinator, is he coaching for his job? Is he coaching for his defensive coordinator life, if you will? The 40-year-old has some things to prove here in 2026 for the Lions. Now, according to John McCarron, who writes for Lions on SI, he said the stakes are too high now, and nobody can afford to learn on the job. That learning process, that was over last year. If the Lions, if their defense fails to execute again, he thinks that there could be a coaching change that Dan Campbell might be forced to make. Well, I don't know. That's, again, I say it, there was a lot of injuries last year, but they did regress in some areas. One that was kind of surprising to me. We're going to dive into the stats, of course, in a little bit. Now, one player that I know that I don't have to worry about, and that, of course, is Aidan Hutchinson. He's, you know, he's back to form last year after missing a majority of the 2024 season. He was a force in 2025, and I think he's going to be an even bigger force coming into 2026. That's why I'm going to vote yes for him on Kelshi to be the league leader in sacks in the NFL. Now, with Kelshi, remember, our partner, our brand new partner here on Lions Digest, Kelshi, you're trading directly against other users, not the traditional sports books. You're buying yes or no contracts in sporting events, politics, the weather, you name it. Now, if you look at the trade that you could potentially get for Aidan Hutchinson to be the sack leader, he's trading yes at about 16%. That's a heck of a trade value. That's why I'm going to jump all over that. So, if I trade $25, the return on this at the end of the year, should he be the sack leader, that being Aidan Hutchinson, would be $129.83. So, again, that looks like a no-brainer to me. Now, why did we say $25? Well, if you're interested in trying out Kelshi, use the link in the description and trade $25 with the code DigestNFL and you will get $25 added to your account instantly. So, it's that simple. The games start on Wednesday. All NFL games trade on Kelshi. All right, let's get back to our discussion now about the defense. Now, let's take a look, though, at the stats for the Lions. First of all, in 2024, their defensive stats. Now, the one stat on there that I didn't put was that they had 35 sacks. Now, if you look at the 2025 stats for the Lions, Okay, so the sacks were up in 2025, and a lot of that can be attributed to Aidan Hutchinson, he being a force on that Lions edge on the defensive line as, of course, in the 2025 season. Now, all of the talk this year has been on the edge with the sacks and everything and the defensive backfield. But what really concerns me going into 2026 for the Lions is their rush defense. They made a lot of pedestrian runners look pretty good in 2025, and I think that was one of the reasons why they digressed. So, I don't know. Obviously, those numbers have to improve. They're not horrible in some of the areas, but the yards per game passing, the yards per game rushing that the Lions have given up have gone up, and obviously the points allowed have gone up. So, this is why I kind of wonder myself as well, is Kelvin Shepard on the hot seat in 2026 for the Lions? Now, that's why I want to raise this question to you. What do you think? Do you think that he is on the hot seat? What is your concern for the Lions defense coming into 2026? Are you highly concerned? What do you think needs to be done, by the way, too? Injuries were the reason for the drop-off in 2025. And are you not concerned, not on the hot seat? Or, the other answer I guess I didn't put on there is, relax, take a deep breath, let's see what happens. So, those are questions obviously that need to be answered for the Lions. I'd love to see what your thought is on what your concern level is for the defensive side of the ball, and is Kelvin Shepard on the hot seat for the Lions? Now, the next question that's often asked, Did Brad Holmes do enough for Kelvin Shepard and the Lions in the offseason with the free agency acquisitions and the trades? Let's take a look at what they got as far as the free agency acquisitions in the offseason. They picked up DJ Woonam, who's going to start on the other edge opposite of Aiden Hutchinson. They picked up Devin White, who at one time was an all-pro for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Chuck Clark, who played a long time for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens, and Roger McCreary. Is that going to be enough? My big question out of this group, obviously, can Devin White get back to any kind of semblance when he was an all-pro for the Bucs? Has he passed his prime? What kind of edge can he give for the Lions? Chuck Clark is going to step in and be the starting safety for the Lions, at least for the first four games, until either Kirby Joseph or Brian Branch come off the pup list with their injuries. Roger McCreary, he's going to step in and probably, at least in the first game, be the nickel for the Lions with Christian Isian off with an injury. So those are the big key acquisitions, free agency-wise, for the Lions. Now, what about the draft picks on the defensive side of the ball from Brad Holmes? What about Derek Moore, the second-round pick? He could have an immediate impact for the Lions. He won't start, probably, but he'll get a lot of action, especially on second and third down. Jimmy Rolder, fourth-round draft pick, linebacker for the Lions. He's been injured in the preseason. He's going to back up Rodrigo. And of course, Skyler Gilhoward, he's going to see some time. He played his way on to the roster. So, and Tyrus, he's not on the roster right now for the Lions. So those are what Brad Holmes was able to muster for the Lions as far as the draft and the free agency. So it all boils down to this again. Is that enough? Is Kelvin Shepard on the hot seat for the Lions? What do you think? Are you highly concerned about the defense going into 2026? Do you think he's on the hot seat? Are you not concerned about it just yet? Is it a wait-and-see approach? Or were injuries the reason last year for the drop-off? I would love to see what you have to say. All right, that's going to do it for this edition of Lions Digest. And again, I want to remind everybody about our live preview show coming up Thursday night, seven o'clock Eastern time. We're going to take our first look at the big look at the schedule, break down every game, give our predictions, give our preseason prediction, go over some futures, whatever, some future trades, whatever. We're going to talk all of that and more right on the first edition of the Lions Digest preview show live Thursday night, seven o'clock Eastern time. And a reminder as well, for those of you that haven't done it yet, we invite you to hit that subscribe button. It's free. Our next goal is to get to 1,000 subscribers. We blew past our goal of 500 over the weekend. We're getting there. But let's again prove why we are one of the most loyal, passionate fan bases in all of professional sports, if not the NFL. All right, that's going to do it. Enjoy the rest of your day, everybody. We'll see you next time. Until then, Captain Lou saying keep your heads up, keep your sticks down, keep your feet moving. And as always, keep your minds open. So long.