The Detroit Lions have spent the last four seasons stacking wins, and the roster they’ve built under general manager Brad Holmes looks loaded with players who could be talking about Canton someday. Even after missing the playoffs at 9-8 last year, Detroit kept its winning streak alive, and the back-to-back NFC North titles in 2023 and 2024 - 12-5 and 15-2 - only strengthened the case that this group is built to last.
That bigger picture is what makes the Hall of Fame conversation so interesting. The Lions aren’t just good right now; they’ve assembled a core with legitimate star power, and a few of those names already have resumes that are starting to look special.
At the top of the list is Penei Sewell. Through five seasons, he’s already piled up four Pro Bowls and three first-team All-Pro selections, with all three of those first-team honors coming in the last three years.
He’s missed only two games in his career, and he’s still just turning 26 years old in October. That kind of age, paired with the way he’s played, gives him a long runway.
Left tackle also helps his case. It’s a premium spot, and it naturally draws more attention because it’s the blindside.
The source even points to Trent Williams, who was a first-team All-Pro as recently as 2023 in his age-35 season, as proof that elite tackles can stretch their primes deep into their 30s.
Jared Goff sits right behind Sewell. He’s already a five-time Pro Bowler and is closing in on some major career markers: he’s 10 wins shy of 100 in the regular season, less than 400 yards from 40,000, and 44 passing touchdowns away from 300.
Goff is only set to play in his age-32 season, which still leaves plenty of time for a pocket quarterback to add to the ledger. He’s averaging 4,461 yards and 29 touchdowns over a 17-game season.
If that pace held for three more years, he’d be at 53,005 yards and 343 passing touchdowns, which would put him near the top 10 in passing yards and 13th in passing touchdowns. A Super Bowl would matter here, too, but the counting stats could do a lot of the heavy lifting.
Amon-Ra St. Brown has already built a Hall of Fame-style start of his own.
He has four Pro Bowls and two All-Pro nods, and he’s still not yet 27. As Jared Goff’s top target in an elite offense, he’s in the kind of situation that can keep feeding production.
Through five seasons, St. Brown has 547 catches for 6,252 yards, and he’s missed just two games.
Based on what he’s done so far, he’s on pace to reach 10,000 receiving yards in his eighth season. That kind of production, combined with the individual honors already on his résumé, gives him a real path.
Aidan Hutchinson is next. He’s a two-time Pro Bowler in four seasons and already one of the NFL’s top pass-rushers, with 43 sacks in 56 regular-season games.
He’s added 44 tackles for loss and 100 quarterback hits, and over a 17-game season that works out to 13 sacks, 13 tackles for loss, and 30 quarterback hits. The position matters here, too.
Edge rushers can shape Hall of Fame cases fast, especially if the awards follow. A Defensive Player of the Year trophy down the line would push Hutchinson firmly onto that radar.
Jahmyr Gibbs rounds out the group. He’s only entering his age-24 season in year four, but he’s already a three-time Pro Bowler with 5,029 scrimmage yards and 49 touchdowns.
He’s averaging 17 touchdowns across a 17-game season and has just under 3,600 rushing yards. Because he’s so young, his best football may still be ahead of him.
His value comes from his versatility, too, since he functions like both a slot receiver and a running back. For Gibbs to get all the way into Hall of Fame territory, he’d likely need another six seasons of top-tier production, which could leave him well over 10,000 scrimmage yards and possibly flirting with 10 Pro Bowls.
In Other News...
One Lions Lineman Suddenly Feels Far Less Safe In Camp
Juice Scruggs arrived in Detroit with a chance to carve out a useful role on the interior offensive line, and for much of camp he still looks like the kind of reserve a team wants to keep around. He can help at center and has been part of the conversation at guard, which normally would make him a fairly sturdy piece of the depth chart for a team trying to protect itself over a long season.
But the Lions have built real competition inside, and that is where Scruggs' situation gets tricky. Christian Mahogany, Miles Frazier, Ben Bartch, Giovanni Manu, Colby Sorsdal, Michael Niese and Seth McLaughlin are all in the mix, and when a roster has that much traffic at one spot, even a player with a legitimate backup case can feel the pressure if camp goes sideways. [Read more 🡒]
NFL Insiders Just Reignited The Jared Goff Respect Debate
ESPNs latest quarterback rankings for 2026 put Jared Goff right back in familiar territory, with NFL executives, coaches and scouts slotting the Lions passer ninth among the leagues best. It was a steady showing for Goff, who drew praise for his mechanics, toughness and decision-making, and it matched his standing from the previous year as Detroit continues to lean on his steadiness at the position.
The list also offered a fresh snapshot of the NFC North pecking order, with Caleb Williams cracking the top 10 for the first time and Jordan Love again settling for honorable mention. For Goff, the broader takeaway is that the league still sees him as one of the more dependable quarterbacks in football, even if the debate around exactly where he belongs never quite goes away. [Read more 🡒]