NFL teams most likely to go from worst to first in 2021

NFL teams to watch out for in 2021: Detroit Lions

7. Detroit Lions

Detroit fans have to be happy they aren’t at the very bottom of this list.

They just traded their best player in each of the last five years and completely overhauled the coaching staff and front office. This is certainly the least excited people have been about a Lions team in the last few years.

Matt Stafford was the biggest reason for belief over that stretch, but he’s gone now. They lost one of the sneaky-great receiving duos between Kenny Golladay and Marvin Jones, and the defense is in a bit of flux, with so many pieces from the Matt Patricia era still there, who all disappointed pretty much and now aren’t the scheme fits they were supposed to be.

The reason they were able to avoid that number eight spot is that all other teams in that division pose questions. The Vikings defense is looking to rebound in a major way, with Danielle Hunter’s return supposedly fixing bottom-five rankings in sacks and pressure percentage, as well as 31-year-old Patrick Peterson as their new number one corner.

The Bears desperately need a quarterback to step up, with Andy Dalton being named the starter for now, but the future of the decision-makers in Chicago relies on their ability to make rookie Justin Fields work.

And then the Packers just haven’t really improved much this offseason, losing All-Pro center Corey Linsley and failing to address an atrocious linebacker group, to go with the whole Aaron Rodgers situation.

THE ROUTE BY D’ANDRE SWIFT🔥 pic.twitter.com/xp32LZqAT6

— PFF College (@PFF_College) November 15, 2020

Why the Detroit Lions are on the up

No one expects these guys to be able to match Green Bay, but the path for them to at least be competitive is relatively simple in theory.

New OC Anthony Lynn will let that offensive line go to work, which has a chance to be top five-ish maybe a year from now, with a heavy dose of inside and outside zone, and having D’Andre Swift take advantage of it, who put some special stuff on tape as a rookie and now has a great mentor.

Even though they do lack consistent play-makers in the pass-game for the most part, T.J. Hockenson has turned himself into a top-five tight-end in the league and should be heavily utilized, and while their group of receivers may be the weakest in the league, for Lynn’s 11 personnel (which the Chargers were tied for third-highest percentage-wise in 2020), he has the guys to fit those classic West Coast tags, with Tyrell Williams as a big-bodied possession X, Breshad Perriman as more of your field-stretching Z and rookie Amon-Ra St. Brown from USC as a savvy slot, who specializes at finding space and working himself free on third downs.

There are major question marks about this defense, but once again, the D-line will control the game to some degree, with three new starters on even fronts, including their second- and third-round picks.

Now it will be up to this young secondary to step up, as teams have to throw the ball more, and they certainly have the talent to, with the growth of last year’s number three overall pick Jeffrey Okudah as the key to it all.

The Lions select Oregon Duck star Penei Sewell with the No. 7 pick in the #NFLDraft 🙌 pic.twitter.com/WjUwBOp5yU

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) April 30, 2021

This team is still pretty far from making any noise, but the whole organization seems to share a clear vision – get tough, physical football players and build from the inside out.

They may not walk off the field victorious on too many occasions, but at the very least, they should leave some bruises on rival teams. The sample sizes for the guys assuming the coordinator roles in Detroit is fairly small, with neither even having a full season of play-calling duties.

We’ll have to see what they can make of sub-par personnel. It will be interesting to see if Jared Goff can somewhat resurrect his career as a former first overall draft pick in Detroit, because for the first time in his football career he wasn’t “wanted” and is about to face a lot of adversity, going from an NFC contender to a franchise that finished with a negative record in all but four of the last 20 years.

He did show a lot of toughness when turning Cal around to some degree, though. All said, the Lions don't have the firepower on offense or impact-players on defense to really make any noise, but they will scrap.

Chance: 5 percent