- Detroit Lions News
Lions News: Detroit has NFL’s most top-end talent
The Detroit Lions have the most top-end talent in the NFL, per coaches and executives around the league
byJeremy Reisman
Jul 16, 2026, 6:00 PM UTC
On Thursday, ESPN concluded their top-10 positional rankings, as determined by a polling of NFL executives, coaches, and scouts. We’ve been covering each of the positions as they’ve been unveiled, and if you’ve been following along, you know Detroit has been heavily featured in the series
Now that the series has concluded, our own Al Karsten collected all of the data from the surveys to determine which teams have the most top-end talent. His methodology was quite simple. If you have a player who finished first in the rankings, you get 10 points. A second-place ranking earns nine points, all the way down to 1 point for ranking 10th. Karsten also awarded teams 0.5 point if a player of their earned an “honorable mention” and 0.25 points if a player was listed in the “received votes” section.
Putting it all together, Karsen found that the Lions have the most high-end talent of any team in the NFL, and it isn’t particularly close:
In this scoring system, the Lions finished with 56.5 “points,” well ahead of the Eagles and their second-place 42.75 points. Even if you were to remove the points Detroit received for both safeties—who could both be in danger of missing most of the 2026 due to injury—the Lions still would be in first place by a couple of points
Does this mean the Lions are the best team in the NFL? Hardly. A team’s performance is largely dependent on depth, schedule, injury luck, and a million other factors. But it is a nice perspective for fans and analysts who think Detroit is on the downswing and no longer a Super Bowl contender
If you’re interested in getting caught up on the ESPN ranking series, you can catch our coverage for all the lists below:
Over in The Feed, UpAllNight has some thoughts on the Lions and trick plays. Could we see more in 2026, especially with the addition of Mike Kafka to the coaching staff?
<a href="https://sbnation.com/users/J8dg3B0LXs/UpAllNight" rel="nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>UpAllNight
11h
By Hook or by Crook
There’s nothing more exciting in football than a well executed trick play. Benedict may be considered by some as a master, but he crafted this skill under Coach Campbell who is arguably the brains behind its revival in Detroit
Let’s face it, trick plays are in Campbell’s DNA (along with his knack for almost always going for it on 4th down). There’s a huge risk involved with successfully executing a trick play and the necessary ingredients include having an elite QB, lots of speed and outstanding OLine play. Two outta three ain’t bad and this years OLine will hopefully rise from last years ashes and help the Lions hit the trifecta
There’s a lot of moving parts happening with trick plays and everyone needs to execute their assignments in order for them to be successful. The fact that the Lions have done it before with similar personnel should give fans confidence that they can do it again
What’s really mind blowing is flipping Penei from RT to LT is likely going to open up the trickery even more than it was before. Sewell is a generational talent and his promotion to the lead OLine position of manning the strong side (LT) of the formation rather than the weak side (RT) and more importantly protecting Goff’s blindside after the snap
Penei has the athleticism to be a triple threat on any given play. He can bulldoze opponents, catch passes and/or pass the ball which adds all sorts of scoring possibilities for this Lions offense. So not only looking forward to an even bigger year from Penei, but also expecting a lot more scoring and trickery with this offense
Rec 5ReplyRead 15 replies
- Enjoyed this piece from Russell Brown of Lions Wire: 3 thing I’m convinced of entering Lions training camp. It’s a bit bold at times, but well argued.
- Happy birthday to Barry Sanders! The Lions offered a highlight reel of the GOAT, with each subsequent clip being more ridiculous than the one before it:
- Justin Rogers of Detroit Football Network offers floor, ceiling, and overall predictions for each pick in the Lions’ 2026 NFL Draft class.
- NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks put together an NFL “All-Breakout Team” filled with players on offense he believe could be in for big 2026 seasons. Lions’ wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa made the list.
- I joined the Not The Same Old Lions podcast on Thursday morning to have a long-ranging discussion about the upcoming 2026 Lions season:
See More:
- Detroit Lions News
- Detroit Lions Notes
