Doing these mock drafts - its hard because honestly I have no idea how good any of these young interior players are. Ratledge, yeah I think he improves enough to be a solid starter. Or maybe he does end up at C because Lord knows we don’t need another year of GG (thank you for your service Graham). Then Mahogs and Frazier. I think Mahogany could pan out but man I don’t know.
We used to have such stone cold awesome interior play with like two pro bowl/All Pro guys out of three inside. It just seemed like the Lions lost their identity last year and need to get it back.
Here my latest but these simulators seem like they are pretty unrealistic still. I really like Allar to the Lions btw. I think he would be a terrific understudy to Goff. He’s such a big dude with a cannon. He bothers me because he doesn’t seem like he has that like “big time” gene where he shines in big moments, but I do wonder if its a confidence thing. And he is a rhythm passer too like Goff is where he shines best with timing and play action tempo. Seems to be toolsy enough for the 4th round. I think he could end up being the best QB in this class actually.
I was just seeing what a draft might look like with a corner at the top. Carter Smith probably isn’t lasting to the 5th. They could fight over T/OG spots I guess.
Gimme Markel Bell at 17 if Decker retires or comes back for a year!
Dudes ceiling is thru the roof! Could learn from Decker and get plenty of play time as well to hone his craft! If Decker retires then start him week 1!
I honestly think Smith could last until the 5th. I don’t think his arms are that long, and all Indiana asks him to do is jump set over and over again. I don’t know how you can watch his tape and find a lot of pro reps that make you say “yeah, that guy can thrive as a pro.” Not saying he CAN’T do it necessarily, but imo his profile has a lot of holes in it. To me he needs a good showing at an all-star game, and since they’ve made the Natty I don’t know that he’ll get a shot.
I like Bell, but man 17 seems real high. Sure he’s got potential, but his type doesn’t typically pan out. The best of them is generally a Trent Brown kind of success, and he’s bounced around to like 8 teams.
When I try and find out if I’m early on a guy or just wrong I try and see if there is a narrative as to why he might be so slept on. There certainly seems to be one with J.C. Davis.
Oakland kid that primarily played DT. Had to go to JC and was flipped to OT and was great. Transfers to New Mexico and is their starting LT as a Sophomore. Then is PFF’s number 4 OT in the nation as a Junior and moves up to Illinois where he excels for two more years. He’s got a damn near Miles Frazier level of college starts. He grades well in both the run and the pass. You can see the DT athleticism. He’s just got that Fautanu build where’s he’s kind of sawed off but supposedly has long arms.
I always noticed his name on lists bc I thought he was good when Nebraska played them in 2024 (Robinson and company got shut down/bullied), but I hadn’t given it much thought beyond that.
Think most of the draft community is in the midst of the same mistake.
Its scary to think that if Decker retires this line could very realistically get even worse. The good news is we could always flip Sewell to LT and its easier to find a RT…but I still think that makes us worse probably overall. It makes me wonder, and its too late now hindsight is 20/20, but maybe the play was to get a tackle last year when there was a Josh Simmons or Conerly available. Conerly got worked early in the season but rebounded last half. Simmons did get hurt but seems back from the injury everybody was scared of. How do the tackles this year compare, you know? And were like 10 spots higher.
One thing too is I do think we could got after a guy like Wyatt Teller like we did Zeitler, and then maybe Tate to OC? Seems risky AF though asking Tate to do that.
That depends. I thought Decker was pretty bad this year. There are a lot of scenarios where we can improve both that spot and Center. One of those scenarios could be Decker coming back with a shoulder in better health. Though it sounds like it may be degenerative.
I didn’t read about the degenerative part. Yeah, that is a problem if true. I thought Decker looked bad, but was also gutting out injuries too which made him look worse than he actually is. Then again, that is how decline happens with aging big men too. The injuries start and they linger. The thing is that they aren’t going to find a tackle outside the draft, at least the odds are low historically. Its going to have to be in the draft. Which means we have to take one high enough in a draft that, at least initially, appears to be low on upper end tackle talent.
I don’t know that. Just the Taylor talks about it sounds like there is no medical solution. Just mitigate the pain and play through it. I could be wrong about that. Hope that I am.
This presupposes that Sewell takes a beat to get up to speed over there, right? If so, I’m not sure that would be the case. He’s not coming at it cold, it’s where he played in college and at the start of his rookie year. Wirfs made the switch for Tampa last year and it was seamless, and he didn’t have nearly the experience on the left side Sewell has. I’m not sure he had any.
I think when you’re talking the elite of the elite, it doesn’t really matter. And I think that would be especially true of Penei, since he’s already familiar with the steps, etc… That’s usually where the hang up is, you have to do everything in reverse and some guys just never get the hang of it. Well we already know Sewell has.
I really don’t have a preference for how we go about attacking our T issues. If it requires moving Penei, I’m completely fine with it. I think the transition would be so smooth no one would notice.
