Possibly. But the staff likes him, he’s now familiar with his responsibilities under AG after 2 years under the rocket scientist, and Brad may see him as a chip in his long range comp pick strategy. Lots will happen between now and late August. The Lions don’t have to commit until then.
What do you think about Muma? If he is there with our 3rd rd pick? Some have him going earlier but I think the Bengals picked Wilson in the 3rd
Lot of work has gone into this!
Lloyd has long been my favourite option with the Rams’ pick but it looks incredibly unlikely he’ll now fall to the bottom of R1. I wouldn’t trade up however. As we watch the Rams’ pick fall, there’s a danger of reaching for the player that we’d previously convinced ourselves was gettable and the answer.
The 2023 Rams pick is the leverage they’ll use to get their QB. That’s too big a price to play even with the Saints’ R2 pick folded in. Furthermore, the Lions have the double sided luxury of having a lot of needs - there’s no need to prioritise one over another if the draft doesn’t fall that way.
I would only trade the Rams pick next year if we were moving up to get a QB. I hope they don’t waste the pick this year on any of these scrubs.
I think this might really be why they accepted the Rams offer, other than Goff.
The length of flexibility time wise you can have to get your rookie QB.
Right now he’s probably my favorite outside of Dean and Lloyd, but I do want to see where his baseline athleticism is. He looks like a good enough athlete on tape, but Walker, Tindall, Clark, Smith and Harris are all great athletes and in today’s game that matters at LB.
Maybe I’m in the minority here, but I just don’t see that pick being a big factor in potentially getting a QB in 2023. I think most here believe this team will be good enough to be picking outside the top 10 and in a weak division maybe outside the top 20.
If there is a QB or two good enough to be considered franchise guys next year they will be gone in the top three. Anybody else is going to have just as many questions as the guys coming out this year.
Say if we pick at 12 and the Rams pick at 24. That’s enough to get to 4. If you are trading up for a QB there is usually a premium associated with that. Assuming the teams in the top two don’t actually need a QB themselves, if would likely take another 1st in 2024 to move into the top two. Would be really be willing to trade three first rounders for a QB like CJ Stroud for example?
I fully get conserving draft picks and keeping that Rams first, I just think that the reasoning shouldn’t be because we may need it to go get a QB in 2023.
Bryce Young and CJ Stroud would be top 10 picks if they came out this year.
Bryce Young, CJ Stroud, Will Anderson, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba will be 4 of the top 5 picks next year. Maybe the top 4.
Both of those QBs are worth trading up for IMO.
I just ran the following draft on Fanspeak and I liked it. So, here we go! In Free Agency, I let Vaitai go and throw some money we’d get from moving Vaitai and Flowers into the following: B. Scherff RG, Quenton Jefferson 5t/3t. Resign J Reynolds, JRM, Harris, Walker, Patterson, E. Brown. SDH, Cabinda, Raymond. Assorted fill in’s and here’s the draft:
2: R1 P2 EDGE Aidan Hutchinson - Michigan (Starter)
31: R1 P31 LB Devin Lloyd - Utah (Starter)
34: R2 P2 WR Wan’Dale Robinson - Kentucky (Starting Slot)
66: R3 P2 LB Christian Harris - Alabama (Starting SILB in 4LB sets/ B/U to JRM)
176: R5 P34 S Smoke Monday - Auburn (Starter)
181: R6 P2 DL Noah Elliss - Idaho (Large man, paired w McNeil reduces A gap mess)
218: R6 P39 FB Jeremiah Hall - Oklahoma (May beat out Cabinda)
232: R7 P13 TE Peyton Hendershot - Indiana (Competes w Wright for TE2)
FS Walker SS Monday S3 Harris
CB1 AO CB3 Jacobs CB4 Parker CB2 Okudah or Iffy
SILB C.Harris WILB Lloyd
JRM and Barnes will have something to say about this and starting two rookies inside would be scary, but these are the best two Off Ball LB’s on the team come September and man with Harris’ thump and Lloyds range and coverage skills, while beefing up the pass rush with Q.Jefferson and Hutch, more from guys like Levi, JOk and whatever we get next year with ROk. Exciting stuff in my view. Barnes and Harris give us good stuff against the inside run and Lloyd/JRM give us a top notch nickel package against longer downs.
EDGE Hutch NT McNeil DL Q. Jefferson EDGE ROk
Heavy rotations of Levi, JOk, Harris, Bryant in sub packages. Bryant and Hutch can play the heavier rolls, or we can go Harris/JOk for speed. Adding Ellis who’s 366 and suddenly we can deploy a 5 man front of Bryant/Levi/Ellis/McNeil/Hutch, with guys like Barnes and C.Harris coming downhill Jefferson can play 5t. I love this run set, or what we can do with the off ball LB additions of both Lloyd and C. Harris. Keeping JRM as a vet and great depth with him and Barnes.
That’s our D, lots of other guys will contribute and we’ve got two potential starting defenders coming off one of the worst injuries you can get if explosion from your feet matters, with ROk and Okudah. That’s some high level investment, some of the highest still on our team. With who I got above, I’m ok even if both those guys can’t contribute. Is that asking guys like Iffy and JOk to step up, yep and yep.
WR1 (technically) J Reynolds WR3 W.Robinson WR4 Cephus WR2 St. Brown
I know this may be underwhelming to folks who covet a taller WR1 like London, Pickett even Burks and his big body. But with who Holmes has brought in snagging Robinson and his electric playing style and coupling him with St. Brown and 6’3 Reynolds, I’m ok with that for now, with Hock and Swift gaining a lot of run in the passing attack. We get Cephus back and he can help with the outside work against larger CB’s. I think with motions, what we could do with guys like Robinson/St.Brown and Raymond who I kept, man I like it. Of course I’ve always been a Cephus fan and value Reynolds synergy with Goff more than many. 6’3 and 37" vert/ 27 is ok as a starter outside for now.
TE1 Hock TE2 Wright TE3 Hendershot (Hunter as well)
LT Decker LG Jackson C Ragnow RG Scherff RT Sewell (Nuff said)
QB1 Goff QB2 Literally anyone else
FB1ST Hall FB2/ST Cabinda
RB1 Swift RB2 Reynolds RB3 JeffersonCouple of points here:
1.) That list of stud NFL LBs- Wagner/Leonard/Warner: I believe their elite performance is more a function of their sterling D-Lines than elite innate talent.
2.) the 2023 Rams pick is far too valuable to be dealing this year. We need that in order to secure the keystone to this rebuild- a franchise QB. Without that guy, the long awaited ground-up rebuild never materializes.
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I like how comprehensive you tried to be. I am not in the camp that believes that the Lions will commit that sort of pick to an off-ball LB, much less trade up for one and spend even more. But I can appreciate what you are going for here.
One FA I’d like the Lions to keep their eye on is DJ Chark. He’ll be overpriced, but maybe not in the realm of Godwin or other bigger names. But if we could do that, I think the draft gets a little easier. 25 years old 6’3" 4.3 40 playmaking deep threat who will help keep safeties back off the LOS for play action and to compliment what Amon Ra does best.
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You have too much time on your hands, you mad genius!
DJ Chark is a guy I have my eye on as well. I’m just not sure how much money he will get. If he settles for a short term deal in the 6-8mil AAV I would be up for it.
I was bored at work on a Friday. Got all my stuff done and needed to kill some time.
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I think if Rogers leaves the division is winnable.
The Lions have enough talent, cap freedom and draft picks to become competitive this year. Even win the division.
I firmly believe this.
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RG Scherff How did we get him is he free? an what happened to Big V
Sure.
Just need a starting WR1, TE2, Edge, DT/DE, LB, FS and SS… Not to mention another 8+ depth players that will back up positions in literally every position group…
But, it could happen.
Free Agency
97OA
2OA
29-32OA
66OA
Tracy Walker/34OA
Tracy Walker/34OA
I show you 4 late round picks and UDFA.
And that’s only using a fraction of our cap space.
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I like this approach to the draft then see if Goff can continue that hot streak he had last 4-5 games. If he does then the team can do something in the playoffs, if not QB in 2023