Ekwonu looks a fine player in the making. Hard not to like the aggression he plays with.
But…
We have an above league average LT and LG, a top 3 centre and a potentially generational player at RT currently. Just how much of an improvement do we get by plugging Ekwonu in for Vaitai at this point? I think if the five stay healthy they will be a top 10 unit easy. Does adding Ekwonu to replace Vaitai make them a top 5 unit? and what does that jump from 10 to 5 equate to in terms of results?
Vaitai to me looked really good in the run game last year and despite his bloated contract is solid. I would have no real issue with us doubling down and adding OLine and a WR like Skyy Moore with 2 of the first three picks but realistically we have far more pressing and greater needs on defense.
In the unlikely event the totally unexpected happened, it would screw up a lot of other team’s draft boards. Most have to be thinking the Lions go edge or QB at this point.
Hamilton at 2 would make me nervous. It’s a pretty deep safety class too with Hill, Brisket and Cine. Or even Williams as a small school sleeper in the 4th
And who knows about Okudah, he might end up being a safety if he doesn’t have the foot speed to stay at corner
It’s not impossible, it’s not complicated, it’s simply about getting a reasonable return vs “winning” the trade…
Houston, Seattle, Atlanta all have QB needs, excess draft capital…. The Jets have tons of resources some defined needs, and Lions, Texans and Giants in front of them. Giants of course have to decide on Danny Dimes, need secondary, and OL help.
I get it…. “If it makes more sense for us to trade down, then why wouldn’t they all feel the same?”
Exactly! It seems like some folks here get very ideological about the concept of best player available. A football team has a fixed number of opportunities to add first round talent to their roster, even fewer to add top 10 or top-five talent. You just can’t spend every single one of those chances on OL. It’s just not the way to build a winning team.
If the top player in this class was obviously a quarterback, Jacksonville still wouldn’t draft that player even if he was BPA. Because that would be stupid. That’s where we’re at with OL.
I have no issue with the trade down route, but is the value there? I don’t see it with the QB shuffle which has taken place and lack of a blue chip QB in this draft.
If the Giants offer us 5, 67 and 112 for 2OA to get ahead of the Jets and Texans do you take it? I’d gladly take that trade as you know that the Giants are going to move up to most likely get ahead of the other teams for their choice of tackle and you would think that at least one of KT, Walker or Hamilton will be there at 5 but how much bitching and moaning are we going to have to listen to that we lost the trade going off trade value charts despite picking a player at 5 who we were going to pick at 2
Beyond that, the OL by its very nature seems to have a bit of a ceiling in terms of its impact as well as an averaging effect.
Sure, plugging holes in a bad offensive line can really move the needle, but what does going from “really good” to “really, really good” get you? I’d argue a lot less than adding the same amount of talent to other positions.
Carolina at No. 6 would be ideal, but they don’t have the ammunition.
Atlanta at No. 8 and Seattle at No. 9 are more realistic and both have the draft capital to trade up.
However, with Mariota under contract for the next 2 seasons and the likelihood that ATL may be picking high again in 2023, I don’t think the Falcons will overpay for the privilege of moving up.
We should not drive a hard bargain if the Falcons come calling.
Presuming Aidan is gone, they’re helping us too. Jermaine Johnson makes so much more sense at #8 than 2, where I would take him as the best alternative for the Lions. So many OTs are likely to go between the those picks that we’d be picking from a very similar talent pool at #8.
We can’t have a BQ draft day hissy-fit on trade chart principles.
Right, I see that part. But, I wouldn’t cut or trade anyone if we drafted Ekwonu because when was the last time the Lions went an entire season without an injury on the o-line?
If they are all healthy, run some 6 man o-line and maul teams. Very good chance someone is going to get hurt in a 17 games season and Ekwonu can play tackle and guard.
If Hutch is gone, I’m trying like crazy to trade down, if I can’t, then take the best player on the board and that might just be Ekwonu.
I still suspect at the end of the day Thibodeaux is the pick. I doubt Sewell would say anything negative about him and the game where Holmes was scouting him in CA, he had a monster performance
As long as he didn’t completely butcher his interview, it seems like a shoe-in
