Brewing? do tell
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IMO they view Broderick Martin as a moonshot. That length at NT makes him a bit of a unicorn. Then he’s also got a floor bc of how damn big he is.
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I think the Lions are in a different place than they were the last 2 years. The first year of the rebuild they needed every player they could get in the draft. This year good players aren’t going to make the team. Probably even more important is that at the bottom of the roster, UDFAs are cheaper than draft picks. I still hope Martin balls out though.
There’s a reason unicorns are a myth. The physics of a guy with that length being able to consistently win a leverage battle of getting low are difficult to achieve. His lower body and core strength are going to have to be in the 99th percentile. Part of the reason why guys like Aaron Donald and Jerry Ball back in the day were able to compete on the interior was using their stature to win leverage. On the other hand, if they’re looking for someone to get their hands up in throwing lanes, Martin’s your guy.
I’ll say though, the incredible improvement in the use of his hands in the Shrine game definitely gives you hope, but I still think he’s going to need some serious dedication with strength and conditioning to tap into that potential. He’s going to need to make Josh Schuler his new best friend.
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Thanks for this breakdown. Very well done. I was initially disappointed with the picks we gave up, however after the information you displayed it makes sense now.
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There are examples. Wilfork’s arms were actually longer than Brodric’s. Dexter Lawrence’s are 1:4 inches shorter. He does have to learn to play with leverage. His arms don’t prevent him from doing so IMO.
I just think the guy is such a project. He is huge with long arms, those guys dont grow on trees. Unfortunately thats about all he is right now. Looks like a guy you stash on the PS because he is nowhere near pro ready. They must have really hated the talent in this years draft.
Wilfork was darn near ideal size for a NT at 6’2". Martin is closer in size to Haloti Ngata. The big difference between Wilfork and Ngata versus Martin is those guys were F’ing STRONG coming out. Wilfork did 36 on the bench, Ngata did 37. Martin did 20. That’s not bad, but it’s sure not great either. Like I said, he needs to become besties with Josh Schuler, like immediately. He’s a project, but the Lions have a tiger by the tail by picking him in the 3rd, because if they try to stash him on the PS, its goodbye time, because someone will scoop him up if only to churn the bottom of their roster. Nope, best guess is a hangnail that puts him on IR.
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On the Rich Hill trade chart (which Holmes seemed to be using during this draft because most of them matched up perfectly equal on that chart), 96 for 122 & 139 are both 39 points.
So, Holmes traded 168 to the Cardinals (the pick he originally obtained in trading down from 6 to 12), back to the Cardinals. IMO, a small price to pay to get the guy the Lions wanted.
And, in the overall scheme of things, the Lions were giving up a small part of the surplus from the original trade.
Pick 6 (446) + Pick 81 (55) = 501 points and the Lions received
Pick 12 (347) + Pick 34 (175) + Pick 168 (8) = 530 points.
Deducting out 168 from both trades, the Lions still “win” the first one with the Cards while the second is dead even.No reason to complain about that when viewed in the aggregate.
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I’ve got no problem with the pick or the trade to land him.
However, the “found money” justification doesn’t hold much water with me. Resources are resources, regardless of how they were acquired.
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The other thing to remember is that the bottom half of our roster is substantially better than it was 2-3 years ago. Draft picks need to fill a need and be productive to secure a roster spot. It’s not a matter of drafting 9 players and having them all make the team anymore. So trading some draft picks to get who we really want in a position we have a real need makes more sense than drafting 9 different players and only keeping 5, or whatever.
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I understand what you and Peabody are saying completely and it makes sense.
All that aside…
if you trade 5th for Trinity Benson For Example and the value is “fair”
but you miss out on being able to draft Tariq Woolen.
Well, you made a very bad decision.
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Ok, I will play.
Who did the Lions miss out on at extra compensation that was traded, No.168 in Rd 6, that was the next Tariq Woolen?
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They clearly wanted the big fella, when they asked Holmes about drafting him, Holmes couldn’t stop smiling. Hopefully he develops quickly, but it might take some time due to the low level of competition he faced in college. Martin battling with Ragnow, Glasgow, Big V and Jonah all training camp will be very beneficial to his development I think.
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People always choose the extreme outliers when looking at who we could have had in the late rounds. Nobody is ever ‘dammit! we could have drafted Snoop Conner with that pick!’
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Hopefully he’s mentally built correctly, because if he comes in with what he did in college he’s about to get his *as kicked rep after rep
All he really needs to do is hold his ground and eat space
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This is 100% true, but also we’re not quite at the stage where we have to start letting good players go (like the Eagles did this offseason with CJGJ, Semualu, Hargrove, etc…). When we are, you will see us drafting players that won’t fill immediate needs more regularly, as more spots open up because we have to let some guys above them go.
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