The Detroit Lions Detroit Lions Hoodie were one of the lucky ones. Despite an overall unwatchable preseason performance, the Lions escaped the exhibition season without any truly devastating injuries. Other teams weren’t as lucky.So like every single year, discussion arose about shortening—or even ending—the preseason in the future. The most common solution to this perceived problem is fairly simple: Shorten the preseason by two games and add those games to the regular season, creating an 18-game schedule. Cowboys and referee owner Jerry Jones publicly pushed for this move last week.“My solution is real simple, cut back on preseason games,” Jones said on a local radio station. “Have one at each team’s home, play a couple of them and then add two games to the regular season, which I’ve been a proponent of for several years. That’s a better equity or a better way of players using what they bring to the table, their talents, their skills, their professional time in pro sports. That’ll give them a bigger pay day that’s fair. The other thing it does is it certainly gives our fans what we all think they deserve and that is a competitive game.”The idea is admittedly intriguing, since no NFL fans enjoy the preseason, but is Jerry brushing over some unintended consequences? Today’s Question of the Day is:Would you approve of an 18-game regular season, two-game preseason?My answer: No, I don’t think I would. I understand preseason football is unwatchable, and I hate that season ticket holders have to pay for those games. That last part should absolutely be fixed. But if you’re forcing players to play two more games a season—and 12.5 percent increase in games—you better expect to bump players salary by that number.Jerry Jones argues that an 18-game schedule is safer, because his studies show that injury rate is higher in the preseason than the regular season, which I’m honestly hesitant to believe. Let’s be honest, Jones has plenty motive to straight-out lie here Youth Customized Detroit Lions Jerseys , because he stands to benefit from two more regular season games that will undoubtedly bring in more money for him. But even if what Jones says it’s true, the chances of starters getting injured in a season undoubtedly increase with a longer schedule, and that’s why the players would almost certainly never go for it.If you want to shorten the preseason, that’s something that I think almost everyone can get behind. But adding those two games to the regular season is just a transparent cash grab. I say nay.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), 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) www.lionsauthorizedshops.com , 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, 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.