Study: 5 Players Stand Between The Lions And The Super Bowl
By: Mike Sullivan
@mikesullivan
ESPN and Pro Football Focus conducted a study to see how close each team is to being a "Super Bowl" caliber team.
Their research states that, on average, 40 percent of Super Bowl rosters are composed of good/elite players. Using this methodology, they determined how many above-average players a team is away from playing in the Super Bowl.
The study found that Detroit was just 5 above-average players away from the Super Bowl. There are only 5 teams that are closer (Dallas, Baltimore, Denver, Green Bay, and Philadelphia.) The Super Bowl participants, Seattle and New England, are obviously not included in this study.
Pro-Football Focus graded each NFL player who took part in at least 250 snaps this season. The Lions had 32 qualifying players who were evaluated for this study. Again, to be considered a Super Bowl contender, 40 percent of these players have to be rated as "good" or "elite."
Here's the Lions roster breakdown:
4 elite players (NFL average is 2): Calvin Johnson, Ndamukong Suh, Glover Quin, DeAndre Levy.
4 good players (NFL average is 4): Ezekiel Ansah, Rashean Mathis, James Ihedigbo, Darius Slay.
21 average players (NFL average is 21): Nick Fairley, Golden Tate, Reggie Bush, Larry Warford, Riley Reiff, LaAdrian Waddle, Tahir Whitehead, CJ Mosley, George Johnson, Isa Abdul-Quddus, Rob Sims, Jed Collins, Cornelius Lucas, Joique Bell, Matthew Stafford, Eric Ebron, Travis Swanson, Cassius Vaughn, Corey Fuller, Jason Jones.
3 bad players (NFL average is 5.8): Jeremy Ross, Dominic Raiola, Brandon Pettigrew.
This roster breakdown claims that 25% of their players are above average. Meaning that Detroit essentially needs another 5 above average players in order to get to that 40% mark which Super Bowl teams are statistically at.
Additionally, the study says that DeAndre Levy was their best player, and Brandon Pettigrew was their worst. Matthew Stafford graded out as a "B" and the offseason positional needs listed for the Lions are: defensive tackle, offensive line, and cornerback.
