Playing the Dorsey role to Holmes. So let me rephrase: The first draft while Millen was GM was a a successful draft
Up for a challange? Please name the top 3 rookie inside DL from the past 3 drafts. Did any of them have a good year?
Don’t misconstrue…I’m not down on our two rooks. I have high hopes for them and saw some flashes toward the end of the season. Suh and Donald were freaks right out of the Shute. Have to give the young fellas time to get their man strength on. I expect better next year with Okwara back (
) and a shiny new Hutchenson to play with.
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Seems like a B+ to A draft
We should include the UDFAs as well
Those guys make the rookie haul a solid A
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I really liked watching Jerry Ball play. The round mound of taking down running backs.
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You know nobody is reading the article about the D Line because referring to the line as “playing gap defense” is usually quite the trigger.
I think your being very optimistic to be honest. We see this every year with every draft. People think we’re going to pull 5-6 starters out of the players we keep on the roster. It never seems to work out that way.
I think we had a good draft I’d say a solid B but Holmes was saved by Amon to be honest.
We have two full time starters in Sewell and Brown. Everyone else we drafted turned out to be role
players or players forced into a starting role due to injuries and lack of depth. I’d say the jury is still out on who makes it and who doesn’t out of the rest.
Ultimately if you find 3 starters (who stick) out of a draft then you had a good draft a B level draft. If you find a stud, 2 starters and a role player then you had a great draft an A level draft.
Right now I think you can safely call this a B level draft. It has the potential to be more than that but you can say that about every draft. At least until it proves that it is or isn’t as you had hoped.
For the most part I like the draft but I think people are praising Holmes and company a tad prematurely.
Think about it a second. We waited until round 5 to take a WR and that WR turned out to be a solid player. Yes we made a great pick but no one had any indication Brown would be as good as he is or that he’d make it to round 5. Pre-draft I was hoping we could snag him with our 3rd round pick. I’d say we got a little lucky there. How would our draft look if someone had snatched Brown up on us?
Dan Campbell had also said the Lions had tried to trade up and draft Sewell but could not manage a trade up. He felt lucky that Sewell fell to them.
He also said we tried to trade up to take Levi too.
What if they had traded up and given away that 5th round pick in the process and we didn’t get Brown?
The point I’m trying to make is that we might of had a little luck on our side in that last draft. Can Holmes and Dan continue to have things go there way? I hope so. I just think we should pump the brakes a little before we crown these guys geniuses. So far I do like what they have done. I can’t wait to see how they attack this offseason.
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It was an early 4th round pick.
He said he wanted to trade up for Levi but was talked out of it, at least I haven’t seen anything that said he tried to trade up, which indicates an effort to other teams.
Sweet Jesus, let it play out this way. Minus the Brad Baxter cheap shot to the knee that ended Ball’s career. (still pissed about that).
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SunGod was gonna be SunGod anywhere he got picked. Us developing his talent was awesome, but he is one of those dudes where… it’s just a matter of time…he’s going to get it right. Too driven not to.
Holmes picking sungod is not SunGod saving Holmes, IMO. HOlmes is awesome. SunGod is awesome. Holmes saw what the other teams did not. Love 'em both, and they make e/o look good!
I think Iffy will prove to be an amazing pick. I expect him to be a 1b-type CB. Good enough to be an average ish CB1, but an amazing CB2.
For sure. I see that as the floor. We still have enough holes to make us unpredictable moving into this draft. LOL
I agree w/that too.
LOVE our draft capital going into the next one. I trust 'em.
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I wish I had your faith is Melifonwu. I don’t dislike the guy at all and the limited time he saw the field was promising. He is a classic boom/bust guy to me though. Very raw player coming out and from my viewpoint, his career can go either way at this stage. Considering he was a comp 3rd guy, expectations are not super high.
What I do really like about his is physical skillset to go along with a very hard to find body type at outside CB. Guys like him are hard to find. He also appears to have a strong drive to be good as well from the way he talks and carries himself, which is very promising.
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YES! I completely agree. Our coaching staff helps me to believe in boom/bust guys more…and I love the growth we’re seeing in him so far.
Yes to all of this. Look for him to surprise the fan base. He won’t be surprised though… Neither will Dan or Brad.
Also, I almost expect our ability to develop talent to allow Brad to go purely by mindset/heartset and measurables.
We’re gonna have he ability to draft the high risk/high reward guys…cuz there’s a higher likelihood they work out. 
All valid points, I think you’re being overly critical on Levi and McNeil. Compare the production to any inside lineman besides Donald. McNeil IS going to be a stud, his numbers this year alone place him in the top half of all N-Tackles. Give him this off season to grow. Watch out my friend, he’s going to be lights out.
I appreciate your enthusiasm and optimism.
Barnes as a B-grade I can’t get behind, though.
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