Day 1: The Lions gladly take the hometown Hutchinson falling into their laps. The Michigan product has been labeled as the “high floor, lower ceiling” prospect of the top group of edge defenders, but that may be underselling his upside. The only edge rushers drafted in the first round over the last five drafts with a higher overall PFF grade in college than Hutchinson are Chase Young, Nick Bosa and Myles Garrett. The high-end production and athleticism are both there in a versatile 6-foot-7, 268-pound frame.
Detroit also made a massive move up the board for Williams, who is a game-changing talent when healthy. No one else in this class sniffs Williams’ speed or movement skills. You don’t need to look much further than what he was able to do to Georgia’s defense to see the kind of impact that he can have. In 2021, Williams tied Ja’Marr Chase’s 2019 record for the most 50-plus-yard receiving touchdowns since 2014. Williams teams up with second-year wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown to give the Lions two building blocks to work with at receiver.
Day 2: Detroit is beefing up the defensive front with Aidan Hutchinson in Round 1 and now Paschal in Round 2. The Kentucky Wildcat was quietly one of the highest-graded edge defenders in the country this past season with a 90.0 overall mark. Paschal is a strong, explosive player who can play on the interior and the edge. He may be a tad stiff and can get out of control from time to time, but this is good value for an all-around solid player.
Joseph is still very much learning the safety position, but he has uncoachable ball skills and length. He’s also such an easy mover and should get looks at split-field safety and in the box in Detroit. He just needs more experience at the position to really develop into a legitimate starter in the league.
Day 3: Mitchell was a hit as a sophomore in 2019 when he proved to be one of the best big-play tight ends in the country. He averaged 17.2 yards per reception that season. With Dalton Keene out of the picture in 2020, Mitchell started to be featured more while still maintaining a high 17.3 yards per reception average. With high hopes for his draft potential in 2021, Mitchell unfortunately went down with a torn ACL in Week 2 against Middle Tennessee State.
Hindsight is always 20/20. As of right now it’s an A+. Jamo would’ve been as valuable as Chase/Waddle had he not been injured. Show me a time a team has moved up 20 spots in the 1st for what amounts to be a 3rd round pick. Holmes understands we need ELITE talent. Adding Hutch and Jamo and Sewell is a good way to spend 1st round picks.
Frankly if Hutch OR Jamo ends up a Pro Bowl player and we get 2 more solid starters it’s still an A.
Last year we got about 40M in APY production value from our rookie class and paid about 10M in cap.
If we can look back a year from now at a 10-12 sack edge, a trey flowers level player (patriots version) in Paschal, and a Walker or better safety in Joseph, then it’s another home run. If Hutch ends up being more a solid 7-8 sack guy, but Jamo is a 1,000 yard 8 plus td WR, then still an A
To be fair, RBs take way more of a beating than WRs and Javid Best had a much more severe injury. Best should have never stepped onto a field again after landing on his head in college. These days an acl is like a sprained knee. Best had severe brain trauma. Western medicine isnt even close to being able to fix scrambled brains. Brains are about as firm a jello…
That’s a good way to measure GM value is production versus cost. Is there an easy tracking of a metric like this? It’s almost the gross domestic product (GDP) of a team.
If there isn’t, someone could build a whole business model on tracking this and selling it to Owners as a way to gauge who is doing a great job. That’s pretty much what PFF is for coaches.
Yeah, that was such an ignoramus pick, Best. I mean, I watched that game and the way he hit, I thought he was dead. Of course the Lions had to take a shot on him.
ACL is a bit more serious than a sprained ankle but whats more severe torn acl or ruptured Achilles tendon? Most assume its Achilles but from what I can determine the fastest return to play for both is exactly 173 days.
if they’re both 100% ruptures, I’d take the ACL as a better prognosis and quicker return. I’m not an MD though. We should probably ask Klay Thompson - he had both.
yea I think there’s a flexibility issue, although medicine has definitely improved over time. I just remember dan marino playing on his pool stick leg after he returned from his achilles.
Per a league source, multiple teams had removed Best from the draft board completely, due to his history of concussions, including a scary incident that occurred at Cal.
Cam Akers played in the NFL 173 days after surgery and for the SB champs no less so it wasn’t garbage time, he was productive. Can’t find an NFL player who has returned quicker than 173 days. I’d guess Achilles technology has improved exponentially recently.
And the Lions are both good and bad. Jamo is simply going to allow us to see that alternative universe that we have not observed but is in plain sight.
Here is the postseason 2020 and 2021. Notice the difference in yards per carry pre vs post achilles. This is all we have right now on Akers besides a 5 carry for 3 yard night against the 49ers right before the playoffs this year.
