It’ll be a little odd not to see No. 99 as an anchor in the middle of the Rams’ defensive line. The future Hall of Famer retired this offseason after a stellar career. That’s obviously a big loss for the Rams’ defense, but they still feel pretty good about some of the young talent they’ve assembled up front, including Kobie Turner, who had nine sacks inside last season, and the addition of rookies Jared Verse and Braden Fiske.

“I expect them to be better than they were last year,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said this week. “The influx of youth they got this year, they were all players that we really liked in the draft and so I think they’re going to be a better team.”

Campbell also thinks the Lions are a better team, which should make for a great game tonight.

If there was an MVP award given for training camp performances, third-year defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson would have won it hands down for the Lions. He was a beast throughout camp.

“Hutch has had a great offseason,” Glenn said this week. “He’s had a great training camp and now he’s at the point where he’s got to set his sights on being, if not the best player, defensively, in this league, or one of the best players — which he is — but now it’s time to look at himself as the best player.”

With a more talented secondary behind him and some new running mates up front (most notably DJ Reader and Marcus Davenport), Hutchinson is poised to have a monster season. His 101 total pressures last season were topped only by Micah Parsons (103), but his 11.5 sacks were tied for 12th. Increasing his sack numbers could have a major impact on defense. Last season, offenses across the league scored (TD or FG) on sacks on drives just 22.9 percent of the time. They scored a touchdown on sacks on drives just 7.6 percent of the time.