2020 NFL Power Rankings: Patriots moving up as training camp nears

Detroit moves from No. 28 to 27

This season will be huge for Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia. He enters his third season as the coach with the Lions and the former New England Patriots defensive coordinator has yet to turn his team into a winner.

Following a 6-10 mark in his rookie campaign, the Lions ended up going just 3-12-1 in Patricia’s second season. There was speculation about his job security in the offseason after that mark but he should be cut some slack for that considering he lost his quarterback, Matt Stafford, for eight of those games.

And without Stafford, the Lions were 0-8 while they were 3-4-1 with him under center. Sure, the 3-4-1 mark wasn’t exactly what they wanted but the fact that they could actually compete with Stafford — while being a mess without him — was proof that the former No. 1 overall pick has had to do a lot of the heavy lifting on his own.

Detroit added Jeff Okudah in the draft to help their defense but using a second-round pick on Georgia running back D’Andre Swift could be the even more helpful move for this team. Swift’s ability to move the chains won’t just take the pressure off of Stafford to do all the work, but it can help keep Okudah and the rest of the defense fresh as the offense actually sustains drives this season.