I generally do too, but if thereās one position where it doesnāt seem to matter as much its safety. Even Brad has hit on some subpar athletes safeties like Fuller and John Johnson. Hufanga wasnāt a great tester and heās a badass. Itās more about instincts and Branch has those in spades.
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Not thinking about Iffy. He will have to fend for himself.
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Have the Lions ever traded this much in a draft?
New to the forum. Been a lurker for a few years now. Sheila, Brad, Dan and frankly the players, have encouraged me to hop back on the bandwagon. Been a fan since the early 80ās but lost touch once leaving Michigan. Go Sparty!
I just wanted to say that the Lions now potentially have the most intelligent defensive back group and if they can gel properly, it should be exciting. Both CJ and Sutton have played inside and theyāre known as smart, intelligent leaders. Now they add Branch + Moseley + Kerby. Damn, itās should allow AG to be creative. Weakness to strength.
In fact, every player they bring in fits that leadership profile (Jameson is a different conversation). So easy to cheer for.
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Welcome!
I agree totally about the smarts weāve added to the back end. Coverage busts will be a thing of the past. We have some savvy, savvy guys back there. Reminds me of some of Belichickās best defenses, he always seemed to have really smart DBs.
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My number one lesson for next year when considering who we might draft is that we arenāt messing with our culture. The CJGJ signing had led some, including myself, to believe we might be open to massage our no turd requirements. Nope. Every single guy is a football dude through and through and someone youād be happy to have your daughter marry.
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Yeah very true.
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One other thing aI find interesting which kind of tracks with my earlier point:
Outside of Hooker who was not able to, every single one of these guys played in his bowl game.
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Huh. Yeah, I guess that makes sense though. We want the guys who love football. Wonder what would happen if we drafted someone from a team who didnāt make a bowl game? Have we done that?
Barnes in 2020 but Covid year shouldnāt really count
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I thought this was by far our best selection. It was one of the best drafts for CBs and we came away with 0. Branch is a good player and Iām glad we got him. It would have been nice to get an outside CB as well.
OK, so I figured him where the TE was drafted and visa versa ā¦ works for me!
he and Campbell were great picks for the Lions D!
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Suffice it to say, defense wonāt cost us 6 games this season.
Scary stuff going on here, sportsfans.
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We will never know, but they may have been poised to to select Witherspoon when our age old nemesis Seattle sniped him. Perhaps the trade down for Gibbs was contingency plan #1.
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I admit I wanted Branch at 18 big time. I loved him. I also wanted Campbell in the 2nd round. Again, big time. If you told me we added those 2 prospects in the draft before it started I would have been ecstatic! Which is why I prefer to focus on WHO the Lions got rather than āperceived value created by media mock drafts.ā
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Not sure if this was posted yet but LOL
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At this point we have too many mock drafts. And even worse is we have too many mock drafts that copy eachother so it makes people think that they know exactly how the draft will play out. Which also has people microdissecting every single pick and relating it back to a mock draft. A MOCK DRAFT.
And after every pick the GMs get evaluated based on where guys went IN MOCK DRAFTS. But in the immediate aftermath of the picks, its the GM that āreachedā or āgot a steal.ā Its not that the mocks sucked and missed the mark.
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Mock season no one woulda batted an eye except for the positional value guys
Trade down 6+81 = 12 + 34
12 Bijan Robinson RB ā he was gone so we took GIBBS
18 Brian Branch
34 Jack Campbell
48 Sam Laporta
55 Hooker
5A Brodrick Martin
5B
Matches up very close to what happened and what was reported.
Obviously they have intel whoās sniffing around at who, so if you want your guy gotta take him a bit early so you donāt risk losing him.
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I thought this guy was a stretch in the top half of the first but where we got him thatās an excellent pick, best pick of the draft.