Lions draft class rookie grades for 2024-25 regular season

Bad Grades on Vaki and Wingo imo

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Iā€™d also have bumped up mahogany. To miss all of training camp and still rise up the depth chart to be the 1st interior option is impressive. He also started a game and played well. Iā€™d say at least a B.

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I am not sure how this even makes any sense.

I think a much better assessment would be had by grading the classes 3 years and older. Or at least 2 year and older.

IMO a real team with a solid roster is typically not going to have a 3rd rounder or below just drop into the lineup and produce. I would suggest they are going to need time to develop and mature.

I get it when looking at a 1st rounder the expectation is immediate impact on some level. They have to be able to contribute year 1. And the second round guys you are expecting some contribution. But after that I think you need to let the pot boil so to speak before you sample the soupā€¦

So what do we grade the 2023 class or the 2022 class? But the 2024 class is still getting aged.

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I agree. I think that the developmental picks, i.e. Manu, Vaki, and Mahoganyā€™s grades should all be incomplete.

Ordinarily, one would expect a greater contribution from a 2d Rd pick, especially one as heralded as Rakestraw (Lions were claiming he was considered in Rd 1 and ahead of even Cooper DeJean on their board), but given his injuries and general lack of playing time on defense, heā€™d also get an incomplete for 2024.

I will say that Rakeshawā€™s size was a concern for me.

They talked about him being a slot corner and I was like how is a dude that small going to survive tackling TE and RBs with that frame.

I feel like his home needs to be as an outside corner that comes up and hits every so often but his overall size and build is not ideal for a safety or slot corner IMO.

Compare him to BB in size. BB is just a bit thicker which helps a ton.

I love Rakes attitude and energy. But unfortunately I think he is a guy who when he plays we will all say ā€œdang we need him on the fieldā€ and then he it out half a season due to some injury.

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The entire article is ridiculous. Just the premise of grading a rookie class is a joke.

But then look at the actual grades, and you can see this is just a hot take for getting clicks. First, knocking grades down on injury is stupid. That has nothing to do with the quality of the pick, or the player. Itā€™s a fair metric at the 3-year point, at best.

Now for the specifics. A 6th round pick emerges as the #1 backup guard, and he gets a C+? Important rotational piece on the D-line (also from the 6th round) gets a D?

This writer gets an F.

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But that doesnā€™t fit with the mandate of content creation these writers must follow. And that article will get a lot of clicks, even if itā€™s only so people can say ā€œI knew they should have waited 2 or 3 years before they graded the class,ā€ which will mean it was worth it from their perspective. They donā€™t actually care that the content is nonsensical.

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Exactly. Everyone knows you canā€™t judge a draft class after one season.

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People on this board called Arnold a bust after like 8 games. Do you really think some are going to wait 2 or 3 full seasons?

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We went 15 and 2ā€¦ Had a top 5 offense and top 10 defense. Itā€™s gonna be harder and harder for rookies to get on the field moving forward. Great problem to have. The rookie grades mean Jack Squat.

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Also we only get 1 prospect now in the tier where we got
Jack Campbell, Laporta, Branch.

That was Terrian Arnold.

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Righter is on crack. Most of his negativity is because they didnt get a lot of play time because the guys in front of them are ProBowlers

I bet theres not 10 guys in each draft as a WHOLE that would get playtime over a probowler.

TA - B+: looks good for a rookie, has held his own. With showing signs of improvement every game.

Rake - C-: Hurt so hes missed time. But even when he was healthy and they were thin at DB he didnt get much play time. Only 46 snaps on D. (Less than Dorsey and Vildor in the same games) Hope he develops this offseason

Manu - C: not enough data. Practice reports have sounded promising. Well see next year if he can replace skipper as the jumbo OT

Vaki - B+: has looked great on ST. Both side of the ball. Had 2 good KR for 27.5y avg. thats not bad. And defensively on St he has look great. Plenty of time for him to grow this off season.

Wingo - C: had flashes, but he was about average, but with a healthy team he would have been the #8? Or so DL on the team so that fine. Too bad he got hurt has plenty of time to develop. And he was a 6th round pick. Canā€™t complain too much about that

Mahogany- B+: he has held his own on that OL when asked. Even with a short Camp. Helps having 3 All pros next to you. But still he put himself ahead of Awosika and Sorsdal on the depth chart. For a late 6th? Very well done by Brad.

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Iā€™d say he was too hard on Wingo and Mahogony, and too lenient on Terrion, especially when considering draft position. Clearly the big disappointment was Rakestraw. We donā€™t even know what he is yet.

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Right. Draft picks keep getting worse. This year we will pick 32nd, itā€™s quite different than getting Hutch 2nd overall :smiley: and itā€™s awesome cause we are kicking ass for once in my life.

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The Manu pick on a Super Bowl Caliber team should be given an F.

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Only if we look at picks in a vacuum for 1 season worth of impact vs potential future impact. I get you say you have a contact that tells you he wont ever see the field.

Doesnt mean that a pick is an F or will be an F when all is said and done. Opportunity cost and selecting nothing but high floor players is how we had good pad level when we went 0-16. But hey to each their own.

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The Lions have their best team ever, have the best management team they have ever assembled, and are a legit threat to win the super bowl. There are literally 100ā€™s of great topics right now.

Yet ā€˜someā€™ only come here to whine about a 3rd round draft pick. They donā€™t talk about anything else, just that Brad Homes MIGHT have made a mistake.

There are some pretty fuckin strange birds around here

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Cats.
Strange cats around here.
We are the lions after all.

But, yeah, there are an inordinate amount of shouldas. I can understand whining about not getting anything out of pick 12 in the 1st year and a half, but late round decisions after you already won the draft? Turn the page!

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If the worst thing Homes does is miss on a 3rd round pickā€¦

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