The Lions took a step backward in 2025, and head coach Dan Campbell thinks getting into Super Bowl contention in 2026 might be more about attitude than talent.
Campbell said the Lions will bring in more young players this season, and he wants those players to be the kinds of guys who spice things up with their effort. He said the kinds of players he envisions adding to the team will have the same character as the players they added when he was building up the roster early in his tenure in Detroit.
“Everybody wants talent, I’ll always want talent, but it’s always nice to have a little bit of saltiness to you over the talent that lacks saltiness because that’s what we were in ’22, and a part of ’23,” Campbell said. “We had talent, but we had some salty guys and we were highly competitive. We were willing to make it work, figure it out, so just getting a little bit of that edge back. Some of that comes with youth. Now, with youth, you’re gonna have some of the stuff that gets frustrating, the mental [mistakes], but we believe we can get them there as a staff and with the rest of the players we have around them.”
The Lions went 9-8 last year, which before Campbell arrived was considered a good season in Detroit. Campbell has raised the standard to where 9-8 was a disappointment. He wants his team to be better in 2026, and he thinks the team can get better with players who are saltier.
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