So I always watch the draft war room clips on the Lions website with a grain of salt. With some reflection, I do wonder if Jalen Carter might have been a target with that 12th pick. I mean if you are the Lions and you are sitting at 6 and your options are running backs and a talented DT of questionable work ethic and/or character? It might be better to make the trade down and pick up that high second rounder. Because running backs have inherently short lived careers. And while DT less so, this one had serious concerns. Is he Nick Fairley or is he Suh (ish)? Trading down gives you that extra pick as a hedge pick so if the gamble goes south, you still have 34 to save the day. Its high enough to get a high quality starter.
For instance, lets say the Lions wanted Witherspoon. He was gone. So they looked at the board and said we got three guys we really like between 12 and 6, lets take a gamble and trade down with the belief one of them will be there. Those three being, IMHO, Bijan, Gibbs, and Carter.
Who knows. I’ve chilled out now that the Lions seem to be in capable GM hands. But I did think the Gibbs pick was slightly strange, I won’t lie or sugarcoat what I thought. Seems like a good pick so far…
My Buddy is NYG die hard and he swears that Schein and DaBoll were head over heels for Jack Campbell. Which doesn’t surprise me bc I see overlap as to how the two administrations are doing things.
I could see that. They took Tremaine Edmunds 16th overall in Buffalo who is a very similar player in size/value and play style. Again though if I have to choose between say Carter plus Trenton Simpson instead of Cap’n Jack and BroMart, well all day erry day.
That’s fine. I think they viewed their defense as being without its true (young) heart and soul. Hutch for sure but his game should be focused on organization. They wanted the nerve center to keep the troops organized their squad leader. And I’m pretty sure they got it.
As to Martin, let’s see. Lawrence is the only nose I can find that stout and with that arm length. If Brodric’s our Glover Stewart, and I don’t think that’s crazy, then we’ll be content with the tandem.
Yeah, there aren’t too many complaints I have with Holmes’ drafting. I wasn’t quite as high on Jamo as him, but man this dude keeps hitting singles and doubles up and down the board with some gems sprinkled in like St Brown.
If Martin pans out our defense is looking real good IMO. Early of course…but I like what he did this offseason a lot.
I think someone can be disappointed at passing on Carter and have faith in Brad at the same time.
I think football coaches from years ago could cover up a ton of shit that modern coaches can’t, due to the media and the internet.
Out of those 3 I definitely considered Sam Howell a steal and still do. They got a guy who can be a potential starter or high level backup in the 5th round. In a typical year Howell goes higher.
I definitely think there is a such thing as a steal. But to your point, what makes it a steal is not what some talking head decided to value the player at. But I will add a conversation that Sean Payton had with the media about getting a steal in Alvin Kamara. I will paraphrase:
Media: “Coach, what are your thoughts on the Kamara kid.”
Payton: “He’s pretty damn good and going to do alot for this offense.”
Media: “Yeah, he seems like a draft steal. How was your staff able to identify how good he was going to be when others in the NFL missed it? What did you see specifically that stood out?”
Payton: “We missed it too.”
Media: “Wait, what do you mean?”
Payton: “I mean if we had any idea the kid was going to be this good, we wouldn’t have waited that long to draft him.”
I wasn’t familiar with him, otherwise I might have been able to guess. His career seems to have started off kind of slow for 3 years and then he took off. Does that sound right?
At the moment, I’m hoping Brodric can be a factor this season and then approximate what Grover is doing now in his 2nd season. I dream big until reality slaps me.
Not necessarily. I think initially under Eberflus he was expected to be more of a plugger. Then towards the end of Eberflus’ time he was allowed to penetrate and scrape the line more which is something that he and I believe Brodric (will) do well.
Grover definitely has been more of a playmaker recently though and he’s clearly improved on his game.
But I do understand trying to build a team with character guys.
However, there comes a time when it makes sense to draft players that can dominate like Carter, and take a small risk … knowing the coaches and players around him will help move him in the right direction.
As far as draft steals go … any player that starts and contributes to W’s is basically a steal, whether they are first round, or seventh.
. Like you, I had the feeling that these feelings may be voiced often over the next few years.