Josh Paschal - What do you think?

NFL Detroit Lions
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I dont see much love for him anywhere. I myself have not followed the draft as I usually do. I am totally in the dark about secondary players and a lot of the later EDGE players at this time. But i did watch some Josh Paschal and came away impressed. He plays with fire and passion. Has been truly a game-wrecker in some games.

He is a little undersized, but i really like him. I believe he is gonna be a steal for someone if he truly goes where media is projecting him. He uses his hands well, has the grip n’ rip, has a swim move, reads the play well.

I probably wont respond to any comments, but i will read opinions from others here. I just wanted to see what you guys thought of him.

I will also say i like Tre’ Williams from Arkansas. Terrible combine numbers. But pretty good at football. Has really good bend. He isnt great vs. the run but not horrible. He easily won his matchup against Miss. St. LT Kenyon Green. Green had to hold him numerous times as well. Williams also has some character stuff to look into i believe.

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I thought nothing of him because I hadn’t heard of him. But Dane Brugler has and listed him at #83 in his top 100 NFL prospects this year. I guess he kind of got lost with so many “name” edge guys this year.

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Tip of the hat to you.

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A much cheaper version of Trey Flowers IMO. Do I like the pick? Nope. I love the human being, but unless the plan is to feed him Big Macs and turn him into Aaron Donald-lite, then I don’t think we had any business using a premium pick on what I consider a non-playmaker. Should have gone Brisker there, who is, giving us a true starter at SS. Plenty of try hard guys later on if you wanted a SSDE. Instead of Paschal and Joseph, I’d have gone Brisker in the 2nd, rolled with Bryant for a rotational SS Edge, and taken Perion Winfrey a true 3t DT. This would have given us a true day one starting Safety, not a project coming off injury that isn’t good in run support. Then a true inside pass rushing DT which is what we needed way more than another run stuffing EDGE guy who will slide inside ala Flowers, as opposed to living there rotating with Levi. But he’s a Lion now so go Paschal go!

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I get that thinking…Im just a little concerned that ROkwara is in deeper doubt and that the Edge depth chart was perilously thin before last weekend.

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Rick, that’s the fun of the draft. Everyone has a different opinion. I don’t think the Lions lost anything by drafting S Kerby Joseph at No. 97 overall instead of Jaquan Brisker at No. 46 overall.

PFN had Joseph on its’ 2021 All Big Ten First Team while Brisker was an Honorable Mention.

First-Team All-Big Ten Defense

EDGE : Aidan Hutchinson, Michigan
EDGE : David Ojabo, Michgian
DI : Jacob Slade, Michigan State
DI : Ben Stille, Nebraska
LB : Leo Chenal, Wisconsin
LB : Jack Sanborn, Wisconsin
LB : Jalen Graham, Purdue
CB : Riley Moss, Iowa
CB : Denzel Burke, Ohio State
CB : JoJo Domann, Nebraska
S : Dane Belton, Iowa
S : Kerby Joseph, Illinois
FLEX : Daxton Hill , Michigan

Honorable Mention All-Big Ten Defense

EDGE : Boye Mafe, Minnesota
EDGE : Zach VanValkenburg, Iowa
DI : Greg Rose, Maryland
DI : Haskell Garrett , Ohio State
LB : Brandon Smith, Penn State
LB : Cody Simon, Ohio State
LB : Chris Bergin, Northwestern
CB : Jakorian Bennett, Maryland
CB : Caesar Williams, Wisconsin
CB : DJ Turner, Michigan
S : Cam Allen, Purdue
S : Jaquan Brisker , Penn State
FLEX : Nick Herbig, Wisconsin

In contrast, PFF had Brisker on their 1st team and Joseph on their 2nd team.

To me, Joseph, the former WR, has a greater likelihood of being a ballhawk playmaker than Brisker, who had 5 INTs in 34 games vs Joseph who had 5 INTs in 17 games.

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Let me preface this by saying that I wouldn’t know how to evaluate an NFL prospect if somebody offered me a big bag of cash, that I watched very little UK football this year, that I didn’t know who Josh Paschal was until we drafted him, and that I wanted to go safety or LB there.

All that said… based on stuff I’ve read since the draft, I think this was a very nice pick.

The overwhelming sense I got from reading about him is that he’s kind of a poor man’s Travon Walker, in terms of his explosiveness and position versatility on the DL, albeit as less of a total freak in terms of body type/measurables.

This is not to say he’s a huge dropoff in terms of athleticism from Walker, because he’s not.

See this:

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And this:

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Paschal doesn’t have Walker’s size or arm length. Then again, Walker doesn’t have Paschal’s production–Paschal notched 15 tackles for loss last year–twice as many as Walker–while also playing SEC opponents.

In terms of versatility, I think he’s the same kind of swiss army knife for a defensive coordinator:

So basically, he’s extremely versatile, great against the run, and a really nice pass-rusher too. So I look at it like, instead of falling in love with Walker’s versatility and athleticism, and taking him over Hutchinson, we got Hutchinson AND a player that does a lot of the same things as Walker a round later. And I see a guy who, used up and down the line, especially lining up alongside with Hutch and some combination of Okwara or Harris, could turn our pass rush from weak sauce to actually fierce. At which point, I need to note that our top pass-rusher last season (Harris) finished the year with 7.5 sacks.

I get feeling like taking another edge here was overkill, but it’s kind of the most important position on D! And we really, really needed help there! We’ll see how it all shakes out, but I see the potential to cause a lot of disruption upfront, and I totally get why he was the pick.

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So, Ziggy-esque?

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Except without the experience of volunteering for Teddy Roosevelt’s Presidential campaign.

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I think that’s harsh. I like him much better for the 5-tech snaps than I did Flowers.

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I disagree. Though teams can be wrong when going against the grain with a pick, I think most viewed Brisker as a 2nd round guy and Joseph a round 3-4 guy and that proved out in the draft for a reason. I think what GM’s/Scouts/Teams do is way more telling than how pre-draft media publications view prospects. I do think Joseph has more potential as a ball hawking FS, I think he’s a much less polished player. I think Brisker could have started day one and I do not believe that about Joseph. Because Walker can play either spot, getting the better overall player was most important IMO. We didn’t and it was because we wanted a guy who probably won’t ever be a full time starter in the 2nd round. I’m not saying fire Holmes here. Just that I would have gone in another direction. That said, Malik Willis would be a Lion so, what do I know?

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On a Kentucky team where Paschal wasn’t exactly surrounded by future 1st Rd picks on defense.

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Who is to say Paschal won’t ever be a starter?
He’s a big DE who can play both the pass and run, and has impeccable character/leadership traits. He can also slide over and play a pass-rushing DT. That seems like starter material to me, especially with Romeo Okwara coming off an Achilles tear and a bit of a question mark.
Paschal sounds a lot like Flowers, except younger and a lot cheaper. Not a flashy 10-sack guy, but a great run-stopper who still offer pass rush and can move inside on 3rd down.
Also, you wouldn’t have gotten a DE who would even see the field as a rookie in the 3rd, whereas Paschal will. In the 3rd, they still got a safety who could very well start this season. Seems like they played the tiers of this year’s draft pretty well to address two positions of need.

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True, Brisker’s more of a finished product–what you see is what you’re going to get. That’s why he was graded higher. But, I think Joseph has more upside and having a veteran safety like DeShon Elliott gives the Lions the luxury of bringing Joseph along at a pace which will enhance his development. Beyond that, this particular Lions coaching staff with Aaron Glenn and Anthony Pleasant has shown they know how to find and develop DBs. AJ Parker & Jerry Jacobs being two examples; the improvement of Oruwariye being another.

Paschal is almost identical to former 3rd overall pick Solomon Thomas in virtually every metric:

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But it appears he’s got a better mental makeup to succeed than Thomas.

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Paschal is going to be on the feild alot this kid is being undervalued he could turn out to be the biggest producer year 1 from this draft class.

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Fair point. I think we’d have gotten more starting snaps out of Brisker than we will Paschal IMO. If Romeo can’t get back, then you may have a point, but we already had Bryant who is young, but seasoned, and could play that SSDE role. I’d have rather gone that route, let the Romeo situation develop one way or the other, then go back to the well next year if necessary. I would choose Brisker who starts day one at SS and Winfrey who rotates with Levi day one and at worst, Romeo/JOk/Bryant/Harris/Hutch at EDGE. To me that is better than Paschal/Joseph who right now are both going to be rotational players for this season. But drafting is for the future, so I’m not standing on the ledge or anything.

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Welcome to the Den Mrs. Paschal lol. Hey… hope you are right!!

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That’s why I don’t mind the pick. I think Glenn and Pleasant have seen Tracy come up short in the center-field role. While most consider him a combo safety, I think his better plays come in run support and as a box safety. Seems we have a plethora of box safeties and no true center-fielder.

Agree he’s more of a project than Brisker, but we can wait.

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I don’t think Bryant is going to make the team. Bryant had 436 snaps, 38.21%, with 5 starts. With 4.5 sacks, Bryant graded out at 54.4–not very good.

By way of comparison, in a similar sample size, Julian Okwara had 362 snaps, 31.73%, with 1 start. With 5 sacks, Okwara graded out at 67.7–closer to middle of the road. But clearly, at around 241-245 lbs, Okwara’s not a full-time DE, but just a situational pass rusher.

After the lackluster performance of the defensive line, the draft revealed that the Lions are clearly looking for upgrades. He’s been an oft-injured carryover from the Quinn era and the Lions front office don’t have any emotional investment in the guy like they would their own draft picks. By way of example, D’Shawn Hand was unceremoniously cut…

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JMHO - I would have taken a LB or Phidarian Mathis there. I had heard of Paschal, liked him but didn’t think he was a match for us, but now see how he could help. Seems that opinions on him are all over the place.