Also being a teammate of laporta and Campbell. Everything about dejean screamed Detroit lion.
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Then your title and original post was misleading.
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The Lions needed/need an outside corner and Dejean hasnāt been good outside which is why the Eagles rarely play him there no matter how bad or injured their CB2 is
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This is so underappreciated on here. Heās dominating as a slot corner/safety, which is exactly where we had Branch playing. I think heās played one or two games outside, and any Eagles fan will tell you it didnāt go well.
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I think heās saying that due to so much time missed because of injury (bad luck), itās impossible to properly evaluate their 2025 seasons. I have no such problems.
Taking out bad injury luck, I think we have:
- Arnold: B+ (good sticky coverage, but a few mistakes)
- Rake: Incomplete (missed season)
- Manu: C- (based on what we expected of his development)
- Vaki: C (just an average special teams guy)
- Wingo: F (healthy scratch, not good enough to activate)
- Mahogany: B- (decent play but a lot of missed blocks)
Thatās a C average.
Terrion never had the foot speed to be a top NFL corner thus you resort to holding and grabbing. I believe he ran a slow 4.5 and in college he played mostly slot corner. I understood the pick because he neglected the position the year prior.
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Fun! I want to play 
Arnold - I personally thought he was the best CB coming out of college that year and I was as excited as anyone when they traded up for him. But heās been a below average CB, who is suffering from injuries. The trash talk about beoming the best makes it worse.
Grade then A+
Grade today D
Rakestraw - There were times that he was considered a 1st round pick and wouldnāt be there when the Lions pick. I thought at the time back to back CBās was over kill. But I love the player. He reminds me of an outside CB Brian Branch. Iād love for him to play outside or nickel. But heās always injured.
Grade then B+.
Grade today F
Manu - I understand why he was drafted. A project player that could become a monster of a LT for the future. But its very risky.
Grade then C
Grade today C- Donāt know yet.
Vaki - Iām not sure why they drafted him. Special team ace? Versatility? Brad has said he was drafted to be a RB, but you have Gibbs, and Monty who isnāt playing that much. Weird. He hasnāt done much on ST. Did he ever play a regular season game? And heās injured.
Grade then D-
Grade today F
Wingo - He was a guy too small for DT and not tall or fast enough for DE. He was like Paschel to me. But drafting a DT or DE is always a solid especially when needed. But he was injured and I couldnāt tell you if heās still on the team.
Grade then B
Grade today F
Mahogany - Lots of people said heās the steal of the draft and canāt believe he got drafted so late. Heās been a solid LG.
Grade then A
Grade today A+
Average grade Iād say D+
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He ran a 4.5 flat. Which isnāt great but just inside of acceptable. I donāt know if its a problem or maybe the Lions are just looking for a unicorn, but from what I can gather about the Lions preferences for corners under Glenn/Shep is that they are less concerned with speed and more concerned with their ability to be versatile. Like, for instance, they donāt just want man corners even though they play primary man. They donāt even want just man corners that can tackle well - although they do want that. They seem to want guys that can play man and tackle, but are also comfortable in zone and can match, play man, off man, zone and guys who can disrupt routes (which is more important to them than timed speed). Terrion actually has a lot of that. I feel like he is close, at least before injury. I just wish he would finish the play a little more at the end.
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Vaki and Manu seemed a bit crazy at the time. I recall Holmes saying that he went to bed after day 2 resigned to not getting them but then woke up and changed his mind. At no point has either pick been remotely defensible really.
Arnold made a certain amount of sense. He was highly regarded and heās still promising. It hurts more really that they traded up to get him. And other teams around the Lions came out of the situation rather better. The Eagles took Quinyon Mitchell just before us and the Ravens took Wiggins after us and both of them have been better than Arnold. Tampa took Barton after Arnold and the Cowboys took Beebe with the pick we gave them to trade up - and we could have certainly have used either of them on the offensive line this last year. So whilst Arnold hasnāt been bad - the alternatives were probably better in retrospect.
Rakestraw has just been injured. But itās worth adding that the Lions spent their first 4 picks on corner (if you factor in the trades for Davis and Arnold). That just seems risky on a volatile position.
Mahogany was a good pick. Wingo worth a punt. But you have to hit on at least some of your premuim picks for a draft to be considered successful.
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Vaki didnāt seem crazy to me. Dude was a revelation after the position switch. How to use him was always going to be a challenge.
His issue is health.
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I really liked the Vaki pick until I heard he would not be playing Safety.
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He was terrific at RB in a couple games that I watched. From a need standpoint I understand though.
ARNOLD having a second shoulder surgery today.
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I would never draft a corner in the first round! Itās a volatile position and high risk for injury. Fourth rd and later is when I would consider. The only reason to take one in the 1st he has to have Deion Sanders ability
Well you werenāt getting Charles Woodson, Champ Bailey, Chris McAlister or Patrick Peterson in round 4
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I thought he started playing really well right before he blew out his Achilles. In 2000 he had 6 INTs / 19 PD and a TD.
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He had finally turned the corner that season. Then donzo
Big difference from Okudah who was an impossibly bad evaluation
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I want Bob Quinn to come back and just draft OLine for us 
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That would be a genius move.
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