Interesting quote because of his 15 draft picks, 10 of them have been defensive players the past 2 years. The problem is not many of them are making an impact as of yet.
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Hence why imo he’d “like the guys they got”, thinking Levi will be back and good and that the myth of a great Paschal will come to fruition…Brad will continue to reside in the Brockers Analzone. Of course he’ll address the D in the draft, but dont be surprised with some offensive head scratchers…
The bigger issue here is player development. The draft is one thing, but when you draft 10 defensive players in 2 years and the defense is getting worse, either your draft skills are terrible or your player development/coaching is. Maybe both!? Either way it’s very concerning on the defensive side of the ball. Injuries is another huge factor.
So, it’s easy for us to joke around and say draft defense, defense, defense… but that doesn’t really matter if you can’t develop players and your defensive strategy is hot garbage.
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Agree 110%, and that’s all part of the reason why I’m at my default logical position of anything the Lions do will be a disaster until they prove otherwise, regardless of what hot new regime comes in to “cHAngE tEh CuLTurE!!1!”
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I drank some koolaid in the offseason, but shit I’m already hungover from that koolaid after only 5 weeks, haha.
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Pats trading up to 38 and grabbing Christian Barmore 3 picks before we had to take Levi “Bad Back” O really screwed us. Add Barmore to our DL and things look a little different.
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It’s my understanding that Barmore’s play has been underwhelming this year.
I think we all drank that koolaid, hell, I just wanted 7-8 wins and a clear sign of progress…but for us seasoned honolulu blue-ball vets, we can see when the SOL wheels are falling off a mile away.
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Wishful thinking… Holmes wanted to trade up into the 1st round to draft Levi… Dorsey talked him out of it. Thank god we didn’t trade up, it would look ever worse.
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In my mind, last year proved that player development was a strength of this coaching staff. I don’t think they’ve suddenly lost the ability to develop players.
I do think that they haven’t had much success drafting defensive players and the injuries to those players can only have a negative impact on development. Barnes is just looking like a guy that won’t develop.
I also have a hard time believing the defensive scheme is garbage. I mean really? I don’t buy that they’re that stupid. They may have overestimated the pace that they could develop their players so they haven’t yet “grown into” being able to execute the scheme. And again, if key picks are injured, you can’t move your program forward.
I think far too much blame is being put on the coaches when we could also question player draft selections that have been made on defense.
We probably should point a finger at Holmes as well for not getting a pro level PK.
The shine has worn off this regime. They gotta dig out of the hole they created or all the hope will dissipate (for some it’s already gone).
Being as objective as I can be I think we might reasonably point more at Holmes than the coaching staff.
The injuries? Some of it is just bad luck. Some of the injuries have nothing to do with the conditioning staff.
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I sure hope you are right! Like you said injuries is a huge factor here. How do you develop players who can’t even practice!?
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Facts
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Bench the bums! That’s what Campbell would do.
If you all can remember back one year ago from today the general perception was that we really need to surround Goff with enough to evaluate if he’s really the guy.
Brad did exactly that. Given our cap situation as well as simply how far the rebuild had to go it was not possible to fix everything in one (meaning his second) offseason. This approach left us dangerously thin at a couple spots and injuries have exposed that lack of depth.
I feel fairly confident that the plan was always to be ready to contend for a WC or the perhaps even the division in year three. Given the way things looked early with the offense and the light schedule I think some of us (myself included) got over out skis expectations wise.
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Forgot that little detail. Or maybe I blocked it out. Regardless, can’t believe watching tape of those two DT (not to mention the medical with O’s back), that you could conclude Levi was the superior prospect. Barmore isn’t lighting the league on fire but he’s been solid. Most importantly, he’s been available!
The scheme is not playing to the strengths of the players they have on the field and the defensive play calling is just down right terrible. This is all on Glenn. Hutch seems to be digressing as well as others on the defensive side. The coaches touted how they were going to change things up after the Seattle game and what did we get? Benched Elliot and AO, really? This is what they came up with?
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Doesn’t change the fact that he missed on most of his defensive players both in the draft and especially FA signings.
I’ve read 2 articles now calling out Brad Holmes for how poorly he has done on that side of the ball. From using high picks on injuried players to his horrible choice to resign his own players from a 3 win team. And just plan missing on most of his signings. Saying he put Dan and this staff in a tuff position by his lack of help on defense side of the ball. It said Dan needs to improve but Holmes needs to better both in the draft and FAs on that side of the ball.
Has he?
Aidan - likely a hit IMO
Paschal - too early to say
Kerby - too early to say but the leap last week was encouraging
Malcom - big time hit for the round
Houston - too early to say
Chase - too early to say but showed potential preseason and in camp (from what I understand) and looks to be a nice 7th rounder
Levi - probably a bust
Alim - a hit IMO
Iffy - not looking great but too early given position change
Barnes - not looking great but too early given position change late in college career
So Brad as of now is 3/10 but I think when all i said in done he likely ends up 5/10 (my guess would be Kerby and Paschal) which is actually a pretty good batting average in the crap shoot that we call the NFL Draft.
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We probably need at least 4-5 new starters on defense to work our way up to average.
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It takes a long time to rebuild if your batting .300 in draft picks. I agree though the jury is still out on many of the picks.
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