I guess not.
With the departure of Slay (2013, 2nd), and the writing on the wall for Sam Martin (2013, 5th), we have no draft choices on the team before 2016, except for Stafford. Last year and this year (really in less than a year’s time), have seen the departure of: Riddick (2013, 6th), Martin (2013, 5th - (pending), Abdullah (2015, 2nd), Diggs (2015, 5th), A’Shawn (2016, 2nd), Glasgow (2016, 3rd), Killebrew (2016, 4th, not official…yet), Tabor (2017, 2nd), and Roberts (2017, 4th). Can’t recall whether Roberts was within a year or not.
So other than Matt, after the dust settles on Killebrew and Martin, our the longest tenured Lions who we drafted are Decker and Dahl from 2016.
I hate to see this. We’ll see if we pay for the loss of continuity. The days of playing in one city are truly done. I’m not saying the majority of these shouldn’t have happened, but purely from a fan perspective, its sad.
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Fair enough Jersey. But I’m not sure you’re seeing the forest for the trees.
But this takes me to a quote I heard from an ex-Lion on a Radio show about 20 years ago. I can’t recall the name of the player but quote still resonates with me today.
Paraphrasing:
“The day I signed a contract with the Lions was they day they started looking to replace me.”
In context, he was highlighting the cut throat nature of the NFL and how teams are always looking to improve their roster and very few players are safe.
Building through the draft is great, but why is it great? It’s the cheap contracts. That’s why teams want to build through the draft. Nothing else…simply money. Cheap contracts.
What if you don’t sign many of your draft picks to 2nd contracts? (Patriots way?) Are you still not building through the draft? Let the other teams sign your players to big 2nd contracts.
…and find cheap contracts to fill their shoes…IN THE DRAFT.
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That’s what happens when you aren’t very good at drafting.
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Right, and I’m not saying the moves were bad moves. Just looking at it from a fan perspective, and not being able to add to the list of “all-time great Lions”. Slay could have been one of those guys.
We need a GM who does his homework, knows football, isn’t afraid to take a guy who isn’t a choir boy and knows the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
Bob Quinn fails all of these tests.
Building thru the draft is the ONLY way for a team like the Lions to get it right. We have to stockpile draft picks and absolutely NAIL the drafts. Once we build a foundation of young elite talent, the free agents will sprint here. Instead, our idiot GM tries to band-aid 12 holes with 4 substandard free agent moves and then reaches on almost every draft pick, while getting pennies on the dollar for most of his trades. The draft is the end all be all for teams like ours. Until we get an owner who hires a GM who knows how to draft, we will be stuck in purgatory.
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