{"id":4568,"date":"2024-11-27T15:13:31","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:13:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=4568"},"modified":"2024-11-27T15:13:31","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T15:13:31","slug":"lions-news-5-detroit-lions-players-fans-should-be-most-thankful-for-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=4568","title":{"rendered":"LIONS NEWS: 5 Detroit Lions players fans should be most thankful for this year"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-mm-id=\"_ioot4kmtf\">With a 10-1 record going into Thanksgiving, Lions fans should be most thankful for these five players.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_ioot4kmtf\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_4312,h_2425,x_0,y_182\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/53\/01jdptvzm9t8js0jb498.jpg\" alt=\"By\" \/><\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_ioot4kmtf\">The Detroit Lions are in some rare air by almost any measure you can find right now. If things go a certain way in Week 13, starting with a win over the Chicago Bears on Thanksgiving Day, they can clinch a playoff spot before the calendar flips to December.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_ybvdr46on\">In any case, Lions fans have a lot to be thankful when it comes to their favorite team. If you were to ask how many players they&#8217;re thankful for this year, some would surely scream &#8220;53!&#8221; But the point of this exercise is to narrow to a shorter list players Lions&#8217; fans are (or should be) most thankful for this year. Just players, not coaches or anyone\/anything else.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_e35aq72oa\">Listed in no particular order, here are five Lions players fans are (or should be) most thankful for this year.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_e35aq72oa\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_5459,h_3070,x_0,y_194\/c_fill,w_1440,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/all_lions\/01jdfjp431e5bwn941rw.jpg\" alt=\"LIVE BLOG: Detroit Lions fans invade Lucas Oil Stadium\" \/><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"_jbuld2nzu\" class=\"tagStyle_1rck2gq-o_O-style_1tcxgp3-o_O-style_1pinbx1-o_O-style_48hmcm\" data-mm-id=\"_jbuld2nzu\">5 Lions players fans should be most thankful for this year<\/h2>\n<h2 id=\"_sio85bpiy\" data-mm-id=\"_sio85bpiy\">RB Jahmyr Gibbs<\/h2>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_wm3qjruyg\">A nod can surely be given to David Montgomery here, as &#8220;Sonic&#8221; would not be &#8220;Sonic&#8221; without &#8220;Knuckles.&#8221; But Gibbs has upped his game so far in his second season, and he was hardly a dud as a rookie. He&#8217;s fourth in the league in rushing entering Week 13 (886 yards) with 10 touchdowns, while trailing only Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry in yards per carry.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_7beo8zzzn\">A tentacle to being thankful for Gibbs is being thankful that Lions general manager Brad Holmes ignored the &#8220;position value&#8221; truthers to take a running back with the 12th overall pick in the 2023 draft.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_6rmaexqry\">&#8220;Ja-red Goff&#8221; chants are inescapable at Lions&#8217; games (home and road) and virtually any sporting even that takes place in Detroit. Goff is a symbol of the franchise&#8217;s turnaround, with his career resurrection taking place in parallel with the rise from 3-13-1 in Dan Campbell&#8217;s first season to being a Super Bowl favorite now.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_lwa0ocd97\">There will always be Goff detractors, logical or not, but he fits the Lions perfectly and that&#8217;s all that matters.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"_1m07bb6cb\" data-mm-id=\"_1m07bb6cb\">OT Penei Sewell<\/h2>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_8mxxndk5a\">Fortune smiled on the Lions in the first draft under the Brad Holmes\/Dan Campbell regime when Sewell fell to the seventh overall pick. And the reaction in the draft war room said they knew they got their guy.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_gxjv26a1j\">Sewell has only become the best right tackle in the NFL. He&#8217;s a rare athlete for his size, and entering Week 13 he is Pro Football Focus&#8217; highest-graded offensive player over the last two seasons. Not just offensive tackle, offensive player.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The highest-graded offensive player over the past two seasons <\/p>\n<p>Penei Sewell \ud83e\udd81 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/kcpOqmPaiS\">pic.twitter.com\/kcpOqmPaiS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; PFF (@PFF) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFF\/status\/1861530375454920944?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_6pasfnsz9\">Sewell is obviously a long-term piece for the Lions, just as they thought (knew) he would be back in April of 2021.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_bnrg3nct7\">Campbell wanted to see Joseph reach another level in his third season, and it has happened. It&#8217;s a credit to him, as he moves toward earning the first Pro Bowl selection of his career.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"_ehqmg12ed\" data-mm-id=\"_ehqmg12ed\">DE Za&#8217;Darius Smith<\/h2>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_p0p2od6h0\">Losing Aidan Hutchinson was a huge blow for the Lions, but since being acquired from the Cleveland Browns at the trade deadline Smith has been everything it was hoped he would be. He didn&#8217;t play in his first game as a member of the team, but he made an impact due to his experience and things he passed along to those were on the field.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_o08xlcr9l\">In two games played for the Lions, Smith has a 0.5-sack, eight quarterback pressures and six hurries (according to PFF).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Za&#8217;Darius Smith since joining the Lions:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83e\udd81 22.9% pass rush win rate<br \/>\n\ud83e\udd81 8 total pressures<\/p>\n<p>Full review of Lions-Colts\u2935\ufe0f<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JdHR1KWnAA\">https:\/\/t.co\/JdHR1KWnAA<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/jeVF4zSnZq\">pic.twitter.com\/jeVF4zSnZq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PFF NFL Podcast (@PFFNFLPod) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PFFNFLPod\/status\/1861486258830131392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_grms7077k\">There&#8217;s no replacing Hutchinson, but the interest the Lions had in Smith as the trade deadline neared was impossible for them to hide. Time will tell if he&#8217;s around next season to team up with Hutchinson, but Smith is off to a great start in Detroit and everyone (fans, coaches, etc.) should be thankful he&#8217;s around.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With a 10-1 record going into Thanksgiving, Lions fans should be the most thankful for these five players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-detroit-lions"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>LIONS NEWS: 5 Detroit Lions players fans should be most thankful for this year - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=4568\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LIONS NEWS: 5 Detroit Lions players fans should be most thankful for this year - 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