National Football League

Why the Lions will have a top-10 offense in 2023, despite a lack of hype

Updated Aug. 10, 2023 3:15 p.m. ET

The Detroit Lions are going to have a top-10 offense this season, and not enough people are talking about it.

Last season’s Lions flew under the radar despite starting the season averaging 35 points per game. They finished in the NFL’s top five, scoring 26.6 points per game. Quarterback Jared Goff had the third-best season of his career, throwing for 4,438 yards and 29 touchdowns with only seven interceptions.

Those numbers were up from his first season with the Lions in 2021, when Goff had the lowest full-season totals of his career, passing for just 3,245 yards and 19 touchdowns in 14 games.

The difference? Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.

Johnson was retained from the previous staff by head coach Dan Campbell when he took over in 2021 but in that season, he was Detroit’s passing game coordinator. He subsequently got the promotion to OC after his role steadily increased throughout the 2021 season. In 2022, he shined. After just one season, Johnson was garnering (and turning down) head-coaching interviews to stay where he was.

"Ben might be one of the smartest coaches I’ve ever worked with," said a Lions defensive position coach. "He’s going to find a way to put you in a bad situation every time on defense. I know it sounds simple, but he does it better than anybody."

"That dude is so smart, it’s crazy," said another defensive staffer on Johnson. "He sees an issue one day and has three solutions that [mess] up our fits the next day."

Johnson’s edge is creativity. Just look at what he did with slot receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown last year. St. Brown led the team in receiving yards with 1,161 on 106 receptions. He scored six touchdowns. Johnson was able to unleash St. Brown’s college experience, where he played both inside and outside for the USC Trojans, and get the young receiver a variety of looks throughout the course of the season, turning him into a bona fide No. 1 receiver.

It resulted in the fourth-round pick becoming one of the league’s most productive wideouts and Goff’s main target. He had the seventh-most catches of any receiver last year — and the 11th-most yards.

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Then there was running back Jamaal Williams, who finished with a whopping 17 touchdowns on the season in 2022. Williams previously never had more than four in a season. He accumulated 1,066 rushing yards in the process, which ranked 10th. His previous high was 601. Johnson made Williams a star through his scheme in which the run predicates most things.

Williams is out, but David Montgomery is in. The team also drafted offensive weapon Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round. Now, 12th overall might seem high for a running back, especially in today’s market, but what we’ve seen of Gibbs in training camp indicates he’ll be used in a similar way to Christian McCaffrey. Lions coaches like what they see in Gibbs so far. He has some work to do improving in pass protection. He even has some improvement to make in the ground game itself. But from what I’ve heard, Gibbs is doing great work out of the backfield.

"He’s pretty good," said Goff about Gibbs. "Our goal is to get guys who are special in space and he’s one of them."

Those two will be a big reason this offense takes a step forward. Johnson clearly already has plans for him, as well as new wrinkles in the offense in general. It sounds like he implements those daily.

"I think we’re trying to challenge ourselves to the highest degree right now and really push our tempo and push our computing ability, in some ways, at every position and I think it’s a good thing," said Goff. "Once we get to game week, it won’t quite be the same way, but right now, it’s good to be stressed a little bit and to work through those things."

The team’s excellent offensive line is also a key factor in its success. Detroit has invested heavily in the group, and it is widely considered one of the NFL’s best. Right tackle Penei Sewell is the standout and looks like a cornerstone, but the entire group is solid.

St. Brown won’t be put on an island anymore, either. The team was supposed to get Jameson Williams back fully healthy this year, but he’s now suspended for the first six games of the season for violating the NFL’s gambling policy. Detroit traded for Denzel Mims, hoping to give the 2020 second-round pick a fresh start. And if anyone can figure out how to get the most from him, it will be Johnson.

There’s a reason Detroit seem to be the heavy favorite to win the NFC North this season. A lot of it has to do with their offense. We should talk about that more.

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.

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