Best player in his draft
To me, one of the keys is this:
Born: October 9, 2000 (age 21 years)
By the time he hits his next contract, Sewell will still only be 26 years old. Hopefully, a Lion for life.
I have no doubt he’s a special player.
I was told he has slow foot speed which is why he’s constantly having to grab.
I’d argue that was Parsons
To think we could have had both had we took the panthers trade offer.
I truly do think the organization wanted to do right by Matt and personally I’m okay with that.
So you would have rather taking the trade where Matt didn’t want to go and did him like that?..not to mention risking him suddenly retiring voiding the trade.
Well Air’s post is worded in a manner that is accurate so he isn’t wrong based on that, he is a good wordsmith as he has proven. Yet, the Carolina trade was never going to happen based on the Lion’s decision to trade Stafford to a team he wanted to go to.
I would assume that Carolina and Stafford would talk before the trade was finalized with regards to him wanting to be there or retiring.
He just needs to work on his pass pro. Run blocking looks great.
I’m suspecting this question was directed toward Air.
I’ll answer anyway…I don’t know.
- I don’t know if he would have retired.
- I won’t know who we got with the picks for another 2 years.
…given all things considered, I think I like the deal we got, though I have to admit that even that is speculation.
That and the fact that Collins was coming off a decent year and on a big contract number. Anzalone was just signed by this regime, and we were paying Romeo and Trey top $$$ on the edges for the next 1-2 years at least, and had Julian, Bryant and a flier on C Harris in the fold
Clearly it hasn’t really panned out, but Collins flat
Out quitting, flowers regressing from being a good albeit overpaid player, to overpaid, injury prone and average was a worst case for both. Then factor Romeo getting a crushing injury as a historically healthy guy, and us clearly needing to see what Julian could be.
So in essence, I’d have been shocked it Parsons was even a real consideration. A year off football, off field stuff, and a position that seemed like comparative strength. D Smith, Surtain Jr would have likely been more viable considerations given the current team.
Parsons is clearly all world. Just like JJ Watt, D Ware, TJ Watt, etc that obviously went way too late.
There’s truth to this. The Lions let Matt choose his destination. They didn’t have to do that. They did it out of respect and I can respect that decision. Most teams wouldn’t do what the Lions did.
You have to wonder if with some effort if they could have influenced him or guided him towards CAR. (I think they could have) Heck they could have just said we’re taking the Carolina deal but they didn’t.
To be honest I don’t think that they even tried. I think they felt the Rams deal was plenty good enough and I think Holmes wanted Goff. Matt wanted to go there so they ran with it. I don’t think they even tried to make the Panthers deal happen after the Rams stepped in.
@BigNatty - He wouldn’t have retired. He wanted to play elsewhere. Carolina, Indy, SF, and Denver we’re all teams the Lions entered into negotiations with because those were teams Matt had expressed interest in playing for.
@Snags if this was aimed at me.
I’d have tried harder to make the Panther deal. I’d have sat down Matt and explained the situation. Matt wanted out of Det. He didn’t want to retire. Carolina was a destination he had wanted to go to when it all started. So Carolina was clearly an option. They got as far as placing an offer that included Bridgewater and the 8th overall pick.
What detailed the Panther deal was the collusion of McVay meeting with Stafford in Cabo. Which Matt and his family decided that LA was really where they wanted to go. The Lions honored that and the Rams put forth a formidable offer. I honestly do not believe it would have been hard for the Lions influence Matt’s trade to Carolina.
We treated Matt with respect and let him choose. I get it.
Why we didn’t go after the Rams for collusion is beyond me. That definitely should have happened but I don’t think Holmes wanted to piss off his old team. Maybe the Brockers trade was a way of helping to ease that situation. Who knows.
I get why we took the Rams deal. But I do think the Panthers deal was an option that the Lions could have taken had they really wanted to. I have to believe that the bad blood between the Lions and Calvin influence Shielas decision. I assume that they didn’t want another star bad mouthing the team.
No way of knowing whether they did that or not. I think he’s happier with LA, just my opinion though.
I’m not convinced they take Parsons there. Holmes hinted in interviews that had Sewell been taken, they were picking a WR.
Was banging the table for him last yr. Sewell will be great but Parsons value as a chees piece on D is what detroit needed most. I also said he would win DROY which looks like a solid call 
I don’t think anyone banged the table harder than I but I recall you were one of the few on the Parsons band wagon.
There were some pretty vocal posters against him that just made some of the craziest BS bullshit up.
Like -
He is just an off ball LBer
He can’t rush the passer.
His arms are too short to be an effective pass rusher.
Then all the false crap about his charter.
Just a bunch of crazy BS.
The guy was the best defensive player in the draft. Bar none
Still wish we would have taken him. Not that Sewell was a bad choice he will be a beast for sure but I think Parsons would have helped this team far more in an impactful way. Defense wins championships
Except for the fact that it doesn’t. Not any more so than offense does.
I think he’d have had more an impact on the team this year…but think Sewell does long term.
- Run game is ridiculously important too.
- Tackle’s generally last longer than LBs, in terms of career length
- I think Sewell will prove to have even more upside
- We need guys with cool names that we can do jokes with