The Premier Madden League is a very competitive organization where teams must always try to get better if they want to win the Super Bowl. The Detroit Lions are one of these teams. For the upcoming 2027/2028 season, the Lions have decided to make a very big change to their coaching staff. They have hired a man named Richard Ryder, better known as “D***”, to be the new Offensive Coordinator. This is a significant development because the Lions have struggled to score points for the last two years. This essay will discuss why this change happened, what happened in the past seasons with Jared Goff and Garrett Nussmeier, and why Richard Ryder might be able to help the team utilize players like Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams better.
To understand why the Lions needed a new coach, we must look at the bad performance in the 2025/2026 season. It was a very difficult time for the fans of Detroit. During this year, the quarterback was Jared Goff. He is a veteran player, but the offense was not working correctly. According to the statistics, the Lions were ranked 30th in the league for yardage. Also, they were ranked 30th in points for. This is almost last place.
It was very confusing because the Lions had good players on the roster. They had Jahmyr Gibbs at running back and Jameson Williams at wide receiver. These are “electric weapons,” which means they are very fast and good at football. However, the coaching staff could not figure out how to get them the ball in good positions. Because the offense was ranked 30th, the team lost many games. This showed that the old way of doing things was not working anymore and that Jared Goff was perhaps having trouble moving the ball down the field.
The next season, which was 2026/2027, saw some changes. The biggest change was at the quarterback position. In the 2026 NFL Draft, the Lions selected Garrett Nussmeier in the 2nd round. He played college football at LSU. Because he was a rookie, there were some mistakes, but he was also younger and had a strong arm.
The offense did get better during this season. They improved from being 30th to being ranked 11th in total yardage. Also, they improved to 15th in points for. This is a good improvement, but it is still not in the top 10. In the NFL, if you want to be a champion, you usually need to be in the top 10. Even though Garrett Nussmeier played decently for a rookie, the offense still felt like it was missing something. They could move the ball, but they did not score enough touchdowns compared to the best teams. The management decided that being 15th in points was not good enough for a team that has so much talent.
The main issue that many people have noticed is that the best players are not being used to their full potential. Jahmyr Gibbs is very fast and can catch the ball, but sometimes he is just running into the defensive line. Jameson Williams is also very fast, but he does not always get the ball thrown to him deep.
When you have a Ferrari, you should not drive it like a Toyota Corolla. This is a metaphor for the Lions offense. They have Ferrari players but were using a Corolla strategy. The previous offensive coordinator did a better job in 2026 than in 2025, but it was still not maximizing the abilities of the roster. The team needs a strategy that is modern and exciting.
This brings us to the new hiring of Richard Ryder. He is a young coach. The most important thing about him is that he comes from the “Mike McDaniel coaching tree.” Mike McDaniel is the head coach of the Miami Dolphins and is known for being a genius with offensive plays. He uses a lot of speed and motion.
Richard Ryder has learned from Mike McDaniel. The Lions hope that Ryder can bring that same style to Detroit. Because Ryder is young, he might have fresh ideas that the old coaches did not have. He is known for looking at the data and finding ways to get fast players open in space. Since the Lions have Jahmyr Gibbs and Jameson Williams, this seems like a very good fit for his style of coaching.
Now we look forward to the future season. The hope is that Richard Ryder can “unlock” the offense. This means he will solve the puzzle of how to score more points. Garrett Nussmeier will be in his second year as a professional quarterback. Usually, quarterbacks get much better in their second year because they have more experience.
If Richard Ryder can teach Garrett Nussmeier the system that Mike McDaniel uses, the Lions could be very dangerous. They want to be better than 11th in yardage and 15th in points. They want to be in the top 5. The combination of a young quarterback, a new smart coach, and fast players is very promising.
In conclusion, the Detroit Lions have had a hard time over the last two years. The 2025/2026 season was a disaster with the 30th ranked offense. The 2026/2027 season was okay with the 11th ranked yardage, but still not elite. By hiring Richard Ryder, the Lions are trying to fix this problem once and for all. They want to use their electric weapons correctly. It will be very interesting to watch the games in the 2027/2028 season to see if the new plan works. I believe it is a good risk to take because doing the same thing over and over again would not work. The fans in Detroit deserve a top offense.
