“If I had to rate a team as No. 1, something I don’t like doing because you don’t know what this draft is going to look like for four years, Detroit really jumped out. But based on what these teams did over the first three rounds, which is critical, all four of them did very well.”
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Bill Polian, Hall of Fame executive, what does he know about football? A bunch of randos on Twitter and Reddit say Brad Holmes screwed the pooch on this draft and they have internet cred.
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“People complained he was taken too high because he is a running back.”
They’ll complain that he scores too many touchdowns (paraphrased)
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I like how everyone is:
I really like the Lions players and I can definitely see them contributing in a big way… I just don’t like where they were drafted.
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That seems to be the consensus.
Although you do have a few outliers that insist Gibbs is just a scat back, that Campbell is too slow to make a difference, and LaPorta is bad because he is a TE and we didn’t need one.
Is anyone down on the Branch pick? Might be the group favorite…
I liked the draft overall, and thought we got a ton of good players that make our team better…
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It goes back to something we said before the draft. Some people would rather take a lesser player at a different position. They will try to wordsmith it so they don’t have to admit that’s what they are doing. But that’s what they are doing.
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I agree with this as well. Was Ray Guy a bad value pick? I mean, you NEVER take a punter in the first round! I don’t care if the guy kicks the ball 70+ yards, flips the field, and left the game as a Hall of Famer and best ever player at his position. That was HORRIBLE draft value…
Value is and always will be relative. Things that are valuable today, may not be tomorrow. I was watching a draft show on NFL Network, and it talked about how with the Washington Redskins, they used to always trade off their draft picks for veterans because they hated rookies. They won, so no one questioned it. That was the way to do things. Then the Steelers started building their team through the draft, became successful, and other teams saw this and stopped trading away draft picks.
Bill Belichick always does off the wall stuff in the draft, but people don’t question it because “he wins”. Anyone else does it, they get questioned. Bill starts losing, and all of a sudden people start questioning him. The big thing is, does Belichick care? Absolutely not. He is going to keep doing what he does.
This is something we always pleaded for with the Lions management. How many times did we comment that the Lions were always behind the trends other teams set? How many times did we ask for a management team that stopped following trends, and instead started them? Well, look at how many times in this draft alone the Lions stepped outside of the box and made decisions that apply to their team. Look how many teams then followed suit. I think it was at least 2x the Lions took a player and the team drafting behind them immediately traded the pick (meaning we took their guy). Look at what happened as soon as the Lions took LaPorta. A run on TE’s.
Teams are now watching us, and reacting to us, instead of vice versa. It’s a brave new world out there people!
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Positional value trumps on the field production!!!
That guy writing that article is as clueless as Holmes
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I guess everyone knows I’m with Pollian.
The Lions aced the draft.
#1
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Nice find.
Clay Harbor was rather critical of the Lions Rd 1 picks, but absolutely loved their Day 2 picks.
It’s interesting that a guy like him says the Lions draft “stood out”
By inference, he’s saying from everyone else
That’s high praise
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“If I had to rate a team as No. 1, something I don’t like doing because you don’t know what this draft is going to look like for four years, Detroit really jumped out.”
Well, you did rate us #1, Bill, you did.
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We all know that Jason Hanson was an awesome player for us for a long time.
What round was he drafted?
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2nd!
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I tell them to just pretend:
Hooker 12
Branch 18
Gibbs 34
Campbell 45
LaPorta 68
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Polian always put a premium on character and their love of the game of football. It’s not surprising at all that he loved our draft. We knocked it out of the park, at least on paper, we’ll see when they put the pads on, but Holmes has the benefit of all the doubts.
I wonder if those people know that Campbell is bigger, more agile and almost as fast as Fred Warner? Damn comparable to Keuchly too
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Wait so now Holmes, Polian and Brandt have all said “■■■■ where you take them, just take them”?
Meanwhile my boss who thinks it’s funny to make fun of the Lions hands me a printout today of an article with them getting an F.
Hmmmm… what to do what to do…
Any advice would be welcome 
Do nothing now. Let him know when we are Kings of the North. Revenge is a dish best served cold.