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The Lions dodged a bullet this year." Detroit Lions NewsNFL NewsOakland Raiders—not Detroit Lions—to be featured on 2019 ‘Hard Knocks’New Eli Harold Jersey ,24commentsThe Lions dodged a bullet this year. EDTShare this storyShare this on FacebookShare this on TwitterShareAll sharing optionsShareAll sharing options for:Oakland Raiders—not Detroit Lions—to be featured on 2019 ‘Hard Knocks’TwitterFacebookRedditPocketFlipboardEmailPhoto by Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesThough rumors were ramping up that the Detroit Lions may be featured on this season of HBO’s training camp documentary series “Hard Knocks,” it turns out the NFL went with their most obvious choice. On Tuesday evening, the league announced that the Oakland Raiders will be the team featured this August. From a fan standpoint, this is a minor disappointment. The behind-the-scenes look HBO offers is unique and something this Lions team would never offer up voluntarily. That’s why we heard both general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia not-so-subtly say they want nothing to do with “Hard Knocks” in Detroit. Obviously, the selection of the Raiders will make those two happy, and it’ll probably make the casual fan a lot more excited. The Raiders not only feature an incredibly entertaining head coach in Jon Gruden Ricky Wagner Jersey , but with personalities like Antonio Brown, Vontaze Burfict and Brandon Marshall, there should be no shortage of fireworks come training camp.Here’s the Raiders’ teaser for the new season: A year and a half ago, the Packers watched as longtime starting guard T.J. Lang walked away to a division rival, the Lions, taking more money from Detroit than Green Bay was willing to pay. At the time Anthony Zettel Jersey , the Packers were criticized for that move. That criticism was wrong.The Lions have placed Lang on injured reserve today, ending his second straight injury-plagued season in Detroit. Lang signed a three-year, $28.5 million contract with the Lions, but there’s talk that the Lions will release him this offseason rather than pay him the $9 million he’s due to make in 2019. Lang’s contract now looks like an expensive mistake by Detroit.And declining to match that contract now looks like a wise move by then-Packers General Manager Ted Thompson. It was particularly prudent for Thompson because he knew he’d have to withstand criticism for his move: The Packers’ coaching staff was reportedly “incensed” that Thompson refused to top the Lions’ offer, instead letting Lang leave. Thompson was criticized for being too “cheap” to keep Lang.But as PFT wrote at the time, the NFL has a hard salary cap Miles Killebrew Jersey , and one person’s “cheap” move is another person’s wise cap management. And Thompson was concerned that Lang’s age and injury history made him a risk of not being available for the long term. Those concerns turned out to be justified.So when a high-priced player moves from one team to another in free agency, it’s not as simple as saying the team that lost the player got worse, and the team that signed the player got better. In the case of Lang, it was the Packers who were better off when a division rival spent a lot of money on a player that the Green Bay front office expected to decline.