He’s been much better at right tackle than left tackle.
Noooooo! TrAdE TaYlOr DeCkEr
While the Parson’s-Sewell debate will rage on for a few more years in the Den, it will not rage on for 10 years, when a player in Parson’s position will historically be out of the league, and a player in Sewell’s position will still be going strong.
LT Andrew Whitworth—playing at a high level at age 40
LT Trent Williams—best LT in the NFL according to PFF at age 33
I don’t know if anyone is saying the Lions should have taken Parsons over Sewell. But it’s more like the Parsons supporters are saying to those who said he was ‘just an off ball LB with character issues’ that they were, so far, wrong
Some have said in recent days that Holmes “whiffed”…
And…
As some one who was worried about the Sewell pick when he started so slowly, this makes me very happy.
Good catch. Yeah hard to call this a whiff. Parsons was my favorite prospect going into the draft but I’m still happy we have Sewell
Context. Sewell was a great pick. If we’d gone Ebron or Okudah 2.0, it would have been an unmitigated disaster. But Penei looks like he will be a “nice” (fantastic? All-Pro? HOF?; we’ll see) tackle for the next 10-15 years. That’s nothing to sneeze at for sure.
My contention is not that the Lions whiffed on Sewell. They whiffed on grabbing their second (potential) NFL DPOY in 8 years. Surely that’s enough to drive any fan a little crazy.
I don’t consider Penei a bust or a “whiff”. That’s silly. But the Lions “whiffed” on selecting the player (Parsons) I felt would most immediately alter the nosedive trajectory of the franchise and help them start winning games and contending for playoffs.
If not now when? 2025? 2030? Seriously- I attended the Lions’ only playoff win since 1957, against Dallas in 1991. 30 years is ludicrous. It’s going to be a while longer too until we either field a dominant defense or put a true alpha under center. I didn’t like Fields. So Parsons was my pick. Time will tell.
All excellent points. Part of me wishes the Lions had taken the Panthers trade that would have given us the 8th overall too. Then we have Parsons and Sewell. And we wouldn’t have to listen to the media slobber all over Stafford playing for Carolina
I think many were not focused on Sewell because they didn’t think he’d be there at No. 7.
I recall that most of the debates centered on the three WRs and Parsons.
To me, that probably would’ve been the better trade.
No. 8 overall, Bridgewater, plus a 5th Rd pick strikes me as better than a 3rd Rd comp pick, No. 101 overall (CB Ifeatu Melifonwu), two what will likely be bottom quarter first round picks and Goff.
And, who knows, maybe Carolina sweetens that deal a little bit because Tepper was desperate for a high level QB.
But, let’s see what the Lions do with the extra first round picks. Then we can decide.
Sewell pick was never going to be a ‘whiff’ … regardless of how good someone drafted after him is. Sewell was great in college and will be a great pro player.
Jeff Okudah is the definition of ‘whiff’. Herbert was sitting right there, with every possible attribute of a franchise QB. Yet the redheaded stepchild drafts Okudah solely to attempt to look like a smaht guy after the Slay debacle.
Worst reason for a draft choice, and worst decision making criteria I’ve ever seen. That little fucker set this franchise back 5 years, and we all get to watch fruits if his malfeasance.
Ya since he obviously would perform the exact same way if he was thrust into a defense surrounded by our cast of rejects on that side of the ball.
Situation and surroundings don’t matter we can just plug and play stats/performance while saying he would be DPOY on Detroits defense. Maybe he would be but I wouldn’t bet on him being the player he is right now on the defense in Detroit. Parsons was still the guy I wanted until sewell was available than it was end of discussion for me.
Interesting that Slater is ranked ahead of him.
Overall he is, probably because Sewell struggled a game or two at LT.
I think he had one week that he graded really poorly.
Agreed, but I think the alternative pick would’ve been DT Derrick Brown, not Justin Herbert. Let’s be honest. Quinn & Patricia were fighting for their jobs. With Stafford, they had a quality veteran QB who was/is still young enough to play several years. Getting a QB of the future wasn’t in the cards.
However, with Quinn making the choice, a good argument can be made that “Simmonsorbust” was right, i.e. Isaiah Simmons should’ve been the pick (at least in hindsight for almost all of us), over Brown.
I disagree, Parsons would not be for us what he is for the Cowboys.
He wouldn’t get the support from our offense that the Dallas defense gets from theirs, allowing them to play more aggressively.
He would have been the focal point of opposing offenses almost immediately (he is becoming that now for Dallas but wasn’t for the first ten weeks or so, it’ll be interesting to see how he does next year when he’ll be every team’s focus from the very beginning).
He’s been average/below-average in coverage and against the run. He’s flashed like crazy as a pass rusher and made many flashy, game-changing plays in the backfield and that’s obviously incredibly important - every team needs playmakers - but his inconsistencies would have been more noticeable on a team with a poor offense like ours.
I don’t think we could have made a better pick than Sewell. Holmes aced that test.
Who has said this some and my self has said if Parsons is the best player in the draft then Holmes missed on the best player even getting the second best player. I don’t know anyone that says he whiffed Sewell has been great and dominate. Some of the debate is over witch position has a higher impact on there team.