Jim Caldwell has been always been consistent with his answer: Coaching in the NFL is a “day-to-day business.”
He has said it often over the past few weeks as his Detroit Lions have continued to skid their way down the NFL standings and up the 2016 draft order. And after the Lions’ latest loss, a 45-10 blowout against Kansas City in London, where Detroit was not competitive on offense or defense, the “day-to-day” for Caldwell could apply to his job status.
“Not a very good outing, obviously,” Caldwell said after Sunday’s loss. “That’s an understatement.”
It’s clear at this point the Lions are either not responding to Caldwell’s message or aren’t talented enough to do anything about it. To be fair, he’s tried. He shook up his offensive staff last week, but even the timing of that was odd considering the team was heading abroad for a week. Almost predictably, it led to worse results Sunday. He benched quarterback Matthew Stafford a couple of weeks ago, but even if the message got through to Stafford, there’s not much he can do when he’s under siege almost every snap.
This isn't all on Caldwell, although his decisions obviously contributed to this mess and he could end up losing his gig by season’s end. But responsibility goes higher. It goes to the man who said Friday the Lions would be buyers at this week’s trade deadline despite the team’s horrendous record: general manager Martin Mayhew.
Mayhew’s statement comes off as curious as there is no longer a "this year" to play for. And considering all the work the franchise did in the offseason to ensure it would have a bunch of picks for the 2016 draft, ditching those at this point for players available at the deadline would be just another error.
But history suggests Mayhew may not be the best choice to be making those picks, and perhaps an organizational overhaul is in order.
Mayhew and team president Tom Lewand did a decent job from when they took over after the 0-16 season in 2008. They helped build a team that secured two playoff berths and appeared to be making progress. But right now, the Lions are on pace to be one of the worst franchises – if not the worst – in the NFL again, and while not at 0-16, Detroit is close to where it started when Mayhew and Lewand took over.
Other than 2013, Mayhew’s drafts largely have been failures. The Lions have no players left from the 2010 or 2011 drafts. Of the 11 players selected by the Lions, only four are even left in the league. He only has three players – Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew and DeAndre Levy – on the Lions from his first draft in 2009 and three of eight picks from the 2012 draft as well – Riley Reiff, Tahir Whitehead and Travis Lewis.
Mayhew has struggled evaluating second-round talent, a key round for roster building. Ryan Broyles (2012), Titus Young (2011), Mikel Leshoure (2011) and Louis Delmas (2009) – all second-round picks – are no longer on the roster. Kyle Van Noy (2014) has been a special-teams player. Ameer Abdullah, the 2015 second-rounder, has potential but the fumbling issues he had in college followed him to the pros.
Even Mayhew admitted he needs to do a better job drafting, and on Friday explained how the franchise has been revamping its draft evaluation process. But after seven years, should the Lions trust him to make another high-end selection? In 2014 he chose Eric Ebron, who is turning into a nice player, but in doing so bypassed a future Pro Bowl defensive tackle at a need position in Aaron Donald, a do-it-all offensive lineman in Zack Martin and a franchise left tackle in Taylor Lewan.
He and Lewand also misread the Ndamukong Suh saga, which lasted over a year, continually expressing confidence he would re-sign with the club up until he departed for Miami in free agency. The Lions didn’t have much to replace him then – that’s where the Donald pick could have been huge – and traded for Haloti Ngata, who has struggled to stay healthy this year and has been playing as if he is past his prime.
Mayhew had been shrewd in free agency, making smart signings with receiver Golden Tate, safety Glover Quin and running back Reggie Bush, but making free agency moves is a small part of his overall job.
Individually, a lot of these picks and decisions can be looked at as individual mistakes, But if you put them all together, it becomes a pretty clear picture of why the Lions are one of the worst teams in the NFL.
