I want premium talent at a high leverage position at 7 after getting Hock at 8 and Okudah at 3.
This draft may not provide that as far as the position, but I don’t want to drop back to get 2nd or 3rd tier guys at need spots. Nope.
This team is a playmaker desert and Golladay has a better than 50/50 chance at not returning and Rokwara is 2/1 to return , so no guarantee for sure. IMO.
W/O then we have what…Swift as our only real top level athletic talent At Any Spot On The Field.
He may be best in class, but it’s a weak class, unlike last year, which is why I wish our GM looked beyond each draft class and saw what was deep vs shallow over a few classes. DT was massively deep last year and we didn’t get around to dipping into that until the freaking 7th round. We got a Jashon Cornell instead of a Blacklock, Elliot, Gallimore, Madubuike etc… This class there isn’t even a Kinlaw to be had. The year before DE was deep and we didn’t take advantage until Austin Bryant. We could have a devastating Dline built right now, instead we have a really good TE and a CB we aren’t really sure of.
I actually think this class has much better depth than last year, it just lacks a Brown or Kinlaw at the top. In fact I would rank Onwuzurike, Marvin Wilson, Nixon, Shelvin and Togiai above Blacklock, Elliott, Gallimore and Madubuike if they were all in the same class, I wasn’t in love with any of those guys. Tufele and Bobby Brown would be close too.
In a hypothetical world in which we were able to trade down and accumulate picks and we were planning to play a lot of 3-4 I wouldn’t mind Shelvin and either Roche or Rumph with Julian manning the other side.
Even if we let Romeo walk, Hand (if healthy) and Flowers are decently well suited for 5-T roles.
Some brave or confident GM/coach is gonna nab Rumph in the 2nd/3rd. Like, I could see Payton and the Saints doing it, or Arians and TB. Most of the rest will be scared off by his size, and I think they’re right to be worried. Guys his size don’t have a history of succeeding. But then when you watch his tape, the places you’d think he’d struggle because of his size, he doesn’t. Well, no more so than guys who weight twenty pounds more. But no on attacks the passer like him either. He’s a tricky evaluation.
Things can change quickly in the NFL. One top LB can transform a defense. Getting everyone healthy and you might be surprised the DL isn’t that bad. We need a Safety and a DT3, but we didn’t know Okwara was going to come out of nowhere. We have others who can make a jump. Holmes need to make a trade or two, grab a FA and things can move quickly.
Offensively the Lions need more speed and route running at WR and a backup RB.
A good offseason and the team could surprise. A trade down in the first round is possible as LB’s who aren’t just pass rushers rarely go that early.
