The Detroit Lions have been looking for a deep playoff run for quite some time, and that does not appear to be happening anytime soon. The Lions could not seemingly become a dominant football team with Calvin Johnson. His retirement puts the Lions in an incredible bind, as they now need to not only replace Johnson, but continue to develop this football team.
The Lions attempted to at the very least see some production from the gaping hole that Johnson leaves behind, so they went and signed Marvin Jones, formerly of the Cincinnati Bengals. Jones will not come close to Johnson's productivity, but he could help this passing offense through such a tough time.
The Lions went into the 2015 season having to replace the production of Ndamukong Suh, who left for the Miami Dolphins. They are now looking at a full-on rebuild as an aging Stafford takes way to many hits behind a porous offensive line.
The Lions need to make some waves in this league and have the opportunity to do just that in the coming weeks. They are in the advantageous position of having several players that teams may want prior to the NFL Draft. Quarterback Matt Stafford, running back Ameer Abdullah, right guard Larry Warford and outside linebacker DeAndre Levy could all potentially become valuable trade commodities.
It is currently known that the Denver Broncos are trying to trade left tackle Ryan Clady and move up in the NFL Draft, so it would make sense for them to target the Lions, as they do need another piece to this offensive line and they could potentially move back in the draft, depending on who they acquire.
Any trade for with the Broncos would have to involve a quarterback or involve picks that would help them move up for a quarterback they would want. Currently sitting at 16, it is unknown just how much their first round pick would help the Broncos pickup their next franchise quarterback, but if you couple their pick with Matthew Stafford, then the Broncos could jump at that opportunity.
The Broncos have already traded a 7th round pick for Mark Sanchez, so it is completely feasible that they trade players or picks if it means they get a chance at an elite caliber quarterback. The Lions need to make some big moves in order to get this organization back into the playoffs.
