I think the purpose was what was contributed in 2025 and not future projections of the players which could be, probably be, different than 2025.
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BTW, what is Rakestrawâs medical issue? A lot of medical conditions that go on for 2 years are terminal.
You CANNOT judge/rate the class without mentioning it. Itâs not an independent factor.
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There is when so many guys donât actually play 17 games.
Or are you asking how the guys from the 2024 class looked in the games they didnât actually play in?
What are you asking?
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Thanks for understanding the assignmentâŚ..lol
Point is -
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the 2024 draft class did not contribute much at all to our season.
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Which can be contributed to a cause for underperforming and/or a decline.
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When good teams decline thereâs almost always a poor contributing recent draft class. Ours was 2024
Truth is contending teams often take 2 or more years of adding talent to overcome a bad performing draft class. So if the 24 draft class continues to underperform it will likely effect the team at least another year or more.
I honestly think we will need the 24 class to contribute much more in 2026 if we have real hopes of bouncing back. Or we will need the other classes or Free Agency to pick up the slack by over performing.
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Arnold gets an incomplete for 2025.
Next year is big for him. Slay came into his own in year 3 and was drafted in roughly the same area (late 1st/early second).
Gotta stay healthy first.
Mahogs same.
Wingo. Same.
Vaki is okay as a 4th rounder, might give him a B- overall.
Rakestraw has become Iâll be believe it when I see it with him. Seems pretty frail.
Manu. Well, not frail, but Iâll believe it when I see it with him too.
Given the Lions tendency for injuries we should just make it a blanket rule to never draft anyone whose name is anything Straw
Are there any DBs this year named Ironwood or Steel?
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I believe the medical term is Madeofglass Syndrome.
He has a serious case of it. There is no cure. We can only pray
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Rakestraw was a second round talent that had like 6 surgeries in college and wasnât healthy in the draft process. Even the vaki pick.. if you wanted to have a rb that could contribute on special teams.. guys like tyrone tracy, aurdric estime, and kimani vidal went later. and some other non rb returners.. Malik Washington, Devaughn Vele.
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I thought for sure dejean would be a lion.
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Classic smartest guy in the room syndrome
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Vaki did register a 10.5 on RAS GRIT index though.
This is a good question, as it stands the only true contributor from this draft class has be Mahogany, and I think with a solidified IOL his best days are ahead of him.
The Arnold pick is incomplete, there are times you see flashes of why he was picked and there are times you just scratch your head. Hard to get better from the tub, and one thing I am not a fan of is his podcast where he kind of comes across as âI have ascended and am here nowââŚ.dude show your worth first!
I was excited for Wingo, but again he needs to be on the field and not in the recovery tub. As for the rest of the class, I have no future hopes for them and they contributed nothing to this past season. I hope I get served a big bowl of crowâŚ.but as it stands we got 1.5 players from this draft class and that will not do. Brad needs to, as stated many times before, reassess his strategy for drafting players and trying to outsmart everyone with the next âhidden gemâ of a pick.
For the record Rakestraw played in 36/49 games for Missouri. He tore an ACL in 2021 but had solid 2022 and 2023 seasons. Ankle snd hamstring issues caused him missed time in 2024 and a significant shoulder issue caused him to 2025. There is zero reason to think 2026 will be missed.
The 2024 draft class had shitty luck in 2025. Arnold looks like a solid NFL player at this point. Rakestraw is unknown but talented. Manu started 1 game then was injured. Vaki had hamstring issues. Wingo never really recovered covered.
It is easy to see this class making serious and significant contributions in 2026 but this year sucked.
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Brother it would literally collapse mid game if he was off the field. The 2nd Packers game and the Bengals game comes to mind.
TA is a little grabby but I think heâs a hit.
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Well after 2 years being on the team that should say something. Not blaming BH specifically but you would expect more productionout of the 61st pick in 2 years.
Now, that is not saying he wonât become a solid contributor (to you point) but the OP was just about rating them after 2 years
Well I believe we donât have enough info to rate it. Itâs like buying a book, letting it sit on a shelf for two years, then giving it two stars on Amazon anyway.
And again, Iâm someone who didnât love Rakestraw as a prospect. But he wasnât terribly injury prone in college, he played for 2 straight years before the draft. This isnât like drafting Paschal or Levi.
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Nah, itâs like buying a book and reading the first 2 chapters and deciding the book is too slow/boring to keep reading. Now it may get really good but you didnt give it a chance before posting that review
i didnât like the Arnold pick (specifically trading UP for the Arnold pick), but wanted to give him a chance. Two years - not much going on. We really needed to beef up the OL, and there were players there in the second that we really needed. The fact that he doubled up on CB wasâŚâŚâŚdumb.
The 24 (and 25?) draft really evened out the great 23 draft.
Pretty sure they wanted a coverage ace not a returner
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