The troubles of the Detroit Lions miserable rushing offense is a story that has already been told time and time again over the past few years. They have had the least efficient running game in the league in recent years and have gone over four seasons without a running back reaching the fabled 100-yard mark. Detroit is confident that things may change this season. The additions of back-to-back Super Bowl Champion LeGarrette Blount and rookie Kerryon Johnson to the running back room this offseason helped the Lions create one of the more talented sets of backs around the NFL. “We have a lot of different dynamics in our room. All of our guys can carry the rock Youth Taylor Decker Jersey ,” Blount told reporters during a media session on Friday. “We have a dynamic group and we are excited to see what all of us can do.”Bringing in versatile players that can complement each other while also playing their own individual roles has been the cornerstone of Detroit’s roster building strategy in the Bob Quinn era. Blount has experience playing in dynamic running back committees in both New England and Philadelphia in the past, and he’s excited to be among another one in Detroit. “You guys have seen Theo [Riddick] for five or six years now so you obviously know what he brings to the table.” Blount said about Riddick, the running back who has proven himself to be among the league’s elite pass catchers out of the backfield. “Theo is one of the most dynamic running backs in this league.”“You’ve seen the flashes of [Kerryon Johnson] in the preseason]” Blount added, “[Ameer Abdullah] is also one of the most elusive guys in this league.”Blount is aware of the amount of versatile talent that the roster currently holds at running back and how it can create nightmares for opposing defenses. “Unlimited amount of mismatches. We have a lot of different running backs in this room.”This may be the most talented set of running backs that Detroit has had in a long while. Riddick and Abdullah are the incumbent pair of agile, pass-catching running backs. Johnson has potential to be a bell cow that can see most of the team’s touches in his rookie season, and Blount will most likely be tasked with fixing the Lions long-time issues converting on third and short and in goal line situations. Detroit is still a very pass heavy team, though, and as long as Matthew Stafford is under center it should remain that way. That means that despite the talent they have at running back, there still may not be enough touches to go around for the diverse group. According to Blount the amount of touches each guy gets is not on their mind at the moment. “That’s the least of our worries. We are just worried about winning the games right now, we don’t care about the touches at this point,” Blount said. The Lions offense has the potential to be among the league’s elite this season Cheap Golden Tate III Jersey , and this dynamic group of running backs could be the X-factor to the Lions’ success this year.3 Detroit Lions players make ESPN’s top 100 of 2018 list The sports world is enamored by lists, and we’re not immune. Heck, one of our favorite segments of our own PODcast is the LISTCAST鈩? The latest list to draw national attention is ESPN’s top 100 players of the 2018 season. Unlike the popular NFL Network list, this isn’t voted on by players, but rather a panel of over 50 different ESPN analysts. Here’s how they describe the methodology:“We asked a panel of ESPN NFL experts to rate players based on how good they will be in 2018, using a scale from 0-100. We asked them to not emphasize past performances or positional value — only greatness this season. We then averaged their ratings to create the top 100.” So how were the Detroit Lions represented in the list? Well, actually a little better than the NFL Network counterpart. While Detroit only managed to have two players on NFLN’s list, three Lions made ESPN’s list. Let’s take a look at who made the cut, and where they checked in on the list.Matthew Stafford: No. 35Stafford was unsurprisingly the Lions’ highest-ranked player. At 35, Stafford was behind only six other quarterbacks: Aaron Rodgers (1), Tom Brady (2) Youth Christian Jones Jersey , Drew Brees (6), Carson Wentz (17), Ben Roethlisberger (18), and Matt Ryan (21).This is pretty similar to where Stafford landed on the NFL list. His peers ranked him 31st overall, behind eight different quarterbacks.Darius Slay: No. 67Slay came in significantly below where he ranked on NFL Network’s list (49). Even more surprising was that Slay barely cracked the top 10 at his position on ESPN’s list. Seven other cornerbacks ranked above Slay: Jalen Ramsey (9), Patrick Peterson (20), Marshon Lattimore (26), Xavier Rhodes (34), A.J. Bouye (47), Marcus Peters (48), and Casey Hayward (66).“He has the speed to keep up with any receiver www.detroitlionsteamonline.com , the leaping ability to break up passes and the confidence to be one of the league’s top corners,” wrote ESPN’s Michael Rothstein on his reasoning for the placement.Ezekiel Ansah: No. 77Yes, this was just as shocking to me as it probably is to you. Predicting Ansah to have an outstanding 2018 season is just something I’m not willing to do considering his injury history over the past two seasons.Of course, it’s worth mentioning that even with Ziggy’s injury-plagued 2017 season, he still amassed 12.0 sacks, tied for eighth-most in the NFL. That shows just how valuable he can be when he’s at full health. However, the fact that he missed the first week or two of training camp after reportedly tweaking his hamstring during conditioning drills isn’t exactly promising for his availability this upcoming season. But Ziggy is in a contract year, and not many players across the entire NFL have more to gain or lose based on their 2018 performance. Return to form, and Ansah is in for a huge payday next offseason. If he struggles through injuries again, and it would be hard to justify anything other than a prove-it contract in 2019.