Wednesday open thread: Who are the Lions’ most valuable players?

The trade winds are blowing this week with rumors that the Lions’ All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay is on the trade block. While the Lions may not be able to reach a long term deal with Slay, it seems silly to trade away a cornerstone of the team in a make or break year.

Question of the day: Who are the Lions’ most important players?

To address this question, my criterion is who, if removed, would cause the Lions to take a significant step back. From there, I come to this conclusion:

1. Matthew Stafford: This one’s obvious, I’m not justifying it.
2. Darius Slay: Not only is he an All-Pro and ridiculously consistent, especially for a cornerback, but the sheer lack of depth behind him raises his value to the Lions even more.
3. Snacks Harrison, 2018 edition: Unfortunately we learned the hard way how porous a Lions run defense would be without an effective Snacks Harrison this season. If he hangs it up (or opts to come back but is still in a slump) the Lions defense will be swiss cheese again.
4. Kenny Golladay: Golladay has cemented himself as the Lions’ #1 receiver and has picked up the slack where Marvin Jones has fallen off the last two seasons. Golladay can hold his own without Jones on the field, but I don’t think it’s true the other way around.

Who do you think are the Lions’ MVPs? Let us know below.