I was expecting the Packers to take him prior to the trade up. Stokes has been very medicore and is trending towards being a bust. Jaire Alexander has mised most of 2 of the last 3 seasons and they really don’t have any promising players behind them. Nixon is strictly a nickel.
TBH I hadn’t given much thought bout Terrion, but feel it was a nice pick and one of need/addressed a need as well and I think Arnold will prove to be good for us-he is 100 ready to go, start learning, start hitting the jugs and honing his skill right away -and I see that as a win.
For me, it would have been hard to pass on Newton at DT. The Lions have 2 beefers with Reader and McNeil. They have Martin as depth who is a clear NT… but Newton would have been that interior disruptor that could elevate the defense.
I also think DeJean would have been tempting at 29 because of his versatility. He feels to me like the 2024 version of Brian Branch. A guy who played a big time role for a big time program who you can move all over the secondary. A guy you look at 5 years down the road and say “nobody in the NFL thought this guy was a 1st round pick?”
I think the Pack would have taken him, I know when we drafted in the Den’s mock we went with the tackle but if TA was there he would have been the pick hands down.
Which doesn’t mean anything. Any team could have (like BH) Arnold graded much higher than DeJean, Kool… and the gang. So they go another direction at that point in the draft. There will be a run in the early 2nd is my guess and any one of those teams may have been fine trading into the late first to grab Arnold.
Best way to look at this is we filled CB1 and CB2 with higher end talent for 2 3rd rounders and pick 29. We also improved our depth with Robinson and Mosely. This after unexpectedly losing our CB2 to woman beating.