Barry Sanders was in attendance for the Lions’ joint practice with the New York Giants on Tuesday, and the legendary running back is just as excited as everyone else in Detroit for the 2023 season.
“I think this team is well-balanced,” the Hall of Famer told NFL Network’s Andrew Siciliano and Brian Baldinger on Inside Training Camp Live. “Obviously, they have to be feeling good about the way they finished last season although you’re only going to get so much push from what you did last year. But if you’re building on that, you’ve been working in the offseason, I feel like things are certainly set up for them in the division, and yes, me along with some of the other Lions fans, we are excited about this season. We know that really the sky is the limit.”
The Lions finished 9-8 after a 1-6 start in 2022. Although their second-half run didn’t equate to a playoff berth, Detroit gained steam by spoiling Green Bay’s postseason hopes in Week 18. Sanders believes the retooled RB room that now features David Montgomery and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs will help balance an offense that finished last season ranked top-five in yards (380.0) and points per game (26.6).
“They want to be balanced and the guys they have in the room, that’s what they’re there for. They’re there to make plays in the passing game, in the running game,” Sanders said. “Being in this division, we’ve seen what David Montgomery can do game in and game out. He’s a 1,000-yard rusher every year, pretty much. So, we’re looking hopefully for the same production. I believe they couldn’t more geeked about Jahmyr Gibbs and being able to get him early in the first round, and what they’ve seen so far and his attitude and his approach to practice. When you get a young running back in camp and you see him in real live action with other players to see whether that speed transfers, whether he still has that speed, whether he still has that zip that he had in college. I think, so far, we see that he’s going to be a guy that makes plays.”
The NFL has certainly taken notice of Detroit’s revival, scheduling Dan Campbell’s squad in five prime-time games in 2023, including the season opener against the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 7.
Of course, that only puts more pressure on a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 1991 season (eight-game losing streak), when Sanders was in Year 3 of an extraordinary career. The Lions legend believes 2023 could be the year for the calamitous narrative to change.
“It would mean so much, and I think that has to be in the back of this team’s mind, changing that narrative,” Sanders said of Detroit’s postseason aspirations. “We’ve all heard it, we’ve all had to live with it. It’s there. That’s how it is and that remains the reality at this point, but I know that if there’s any team that can change that, then it’s this group and coach Campbell and just sort of how he’s built the last few years and the product they put on the field. So, yeah, I think if there’s any team that’s going to do it, this the right time to do it right now.”