It’s going to be TJ Hockenson or Noah Fant, prepare yourselves

Eh, drafting an elite tight end is fine at #8. I'm not a good enough scout to say Hockenson and Fant are locks to be pro-bowlers, but if they've addressed some top needs in free agency like Edge (Trey Flowers?!?), there's no one else worthy at a position of need, and the trade offers aren't good, what else can they do? The option are trade down and get a bunch of crap, overdraft someone at another position or grab someone that doesn't fit the team, and I'm not sure that's any better than grabbing a TE.

There's not much consensus on the top prospects in this draft yet. The picture will be a lot more clear after free agency and the combine. Although right now there looks to be at least one elite defender in a need position at #8. I don't really see a situation where Nick Bosa, Clelin Ferrell, Montez Sweat, Bryon Murhpy, and Greedy Williams are all off the board or not worthy of #8 in favor of a tight end.

There is so much defense in this draft. As the aforementioned post highlights. They wont all be gone in 7 picks

Of all the things I enjoy about this thread, unwarranted faith in the Lions’ front office is high on the list.

I have faith that this front office will hurdle the bar set by previous GM's.

Free agency is imminent, and we got off to an early start releasing TJ Lang. I sort of hoped that we could squeeze another year out of him after renegotiating his contract, because there is a huge roster drop off after him and Ragnow.

There are some FA options the Lions could go after. It would be wild to spend some another 1st rounder on a guard, but maybe? I've been following the draft stuff, and I'll write up my summary of where I think the Lions will go in round 1. There will be a lot of various options for them (and yes, Hockenson and Fant are very much in play at 8, but probably unlikely).

Drafting a tight end in the top 10 is a complete fish move. Take a look at all the elite tight ends in the league. They werent drafted early whatsoever. Ebron is the best high drafted tight end and we took him, then the colts got him for nothing because he didnt work out for us.

Just signed Amendola. Pretty meh move.

Amendola is serviceable for a slot receiver. Willing to give Lions a pass since they signed Trey Flowers and Justin Coleman too! K-Fkn-Splash


+ Jesse James. Quinn not missing out on players he wants.

They also didn't overpay for him, so he's fine. The other guys they may have overpaid.

Im ok with overpaying a bit

Pick up a defensive starter at 8 and we are good to go.

Yeah, but it's hard to say that those TE's wouldn't have been first round picks (Gronk, Kelce, Graham) given their production. There haven't been many TE's that were consensus first rounders, but at least right now, Hockenson and Fant are checking those boxes. I suspect the Lions would have Hockenson higher as he's a ferocious run blocker on top of being a solid receiver.

They did sign another TE, and they may just not value the position much at all and just want some warm bodies on the field. Who knows.

It does appear they are going all in on defense, which is wild. The Trey Flowers signing wasn't a huge surprise, but I did not see 9 million on a nickel corner coming. They could still go Edge or CB in round 1!

The build elite defense strategy definitely works, but seems a lot harder to sustain long term. The defense is shaping up to be pretty solid next year, if not downright nasty with a #8 edge rusher opposite Flowers.

Of course, if you knew those guys were going to be as good as they've been they would go higher in a redraft. The point is you can find elite level tight ends without blowing a top 10 draft pick. I'm hoping Quinn is smart enough realize this figuring the pats found Gronk at pick 42, Hernandez at 113, and Graham went 95 in that same draft. The first tight end off the board that year was Gresham at 21 so yeah early tight end fail hard.

I like the free agent signings overall. Not a big fan of Amendola but hes cheap and maybe he proves me wrong.

Draft wise seems like we're pretty set at Dline now. I guess if someone falls that we really like we can take them. Possibly Haskins falls and we trade back. Otherwise cornerback or D.White would make sense to solidify the defense.

I want more D line at 8

Let’s just make that our thing next season.

At this point they are almost too stacked on D-Line that some quality players might need to get benched if they went there again. They've got 4 edge players that are all going to be fighting for reps in Flowers, Hand, Okwara, and Kennard. While there are some upgrades to be had there at #8, I'm now liking Devin White more and more here. Another speedy explosive LB who fits well in this scheme and would pair nicely with Jarrad Davis.

I wouldn't be mad if they went D-Line, but I wouldn't mind seeing another sideline stretching LB now that they locked up Flowers.

I just want defense at 8.

Just read the ringers mock draft that was updated. They've got the lions landing Josh Allen. Now I get the ringer is for entertainment but man if he fell to us I'm completely fine adding him in to a stacked Dline. Imagine adding Allen and Flowers to this D.line we would completely destroy Kirk Cousins/Rodgers/(maybe not Mitch hes 2 damn fast)

I agree with Koss on Devin White that would be a great pick as well.

The ringers mock.

https://www.theringer.com/2019/3/15/...st-free-agency

Heres another mock site I like to read nfldraftcountdown. He has us taking Gary but his was updated the 11th so he might not of been aware of are signings. I for sure dont want Gary id rather take Ferrell/Burns/White/ hell I'll take D.Bush over Gary.

http://www.draftcountdown.com/mock-d...-mock-draft-1/

Seems like after the combine the corners are moving down so I dont think we will be taking one. I see the TE is still projected high so we gotta dodge that bullet still. I really like this offseason feel like we've done enough to get back in the playoffs.

Yeah, the amount of defensive playmakers at the top of this draft is pretty crazy. With the chance to add another piece and potentially be a top tier defense next year, I think you've got to take it, holes on offense be damned. I'm sure they'll add some offensive pieces in the draft, and hopefully one or two of those guys can step up and be difference makers. I'm not sure whose likely to be on the board, but I think WR/TE is a good spot to look in rounds 2-4.

I'm getting excited now. After this splash free agency and the #8 pick, they're definitely laying it all out this year. I do worry they backloaded some of these contracts a bit heavily though. They have some new salary cap guru working for Quinn now, so hopefully he's working some contract magic so they aren't setting themselves up for an untenable future. Flowers base salary is only $805,000 this season, so they will have to come up with an additional $10mil next offseason.

The only reason I didn't mention Allen is I have yet to see any projections that have him on the board after #5. Falling to 8 would be sick. The DB stock has fallen a bit, and since they broke the bank on a FA, I think we can cross that position off the round 1 list. They probably do need to go there in the draft at some point, despite Bob Quinn's assurance that they still like Tabor. My bet is he's a dog to make the 53 man out of camp. At best he's #5 on the depth chart right now.

Montez Sweat and Metcalf destroying the combine +Murray being the 1st pick might get us an unexpected steal at 8. I still would be surprised to see Tampa pass him in that case but we shall see.

Say Allen does go 5 and then the Giants do the Giants and pass on Haskins for Metcalf to replace ODB we could be in a position to trade down to a qb hungry team. The combine has made the 8 pick way better then it looked a month ago thats for sure.

Rumor of Detroit trading back to 14?

I feel like if there's potential impact players that could transform you team on the board, you should grab them at 8. If there is one thing holding this team back has been the lack of home runs hit by Quinn in the 1st round. Decker, Davis, and Ragnow have all had their moments, but they haven't been the massive impact players you hope to get out of the first round.

Quinn has yet to draft a pro-bowler (OK, Agnew had one year as a specialist), and that needs to change if this team is going to take the next step. There looks to be some high potential players available at 8. I'd rather have Devin White at 8, than a trade back for Hockenson and some 2nd rd. OG. I'd take a surefire starter with an elite ceiling than a TE and a possible bust any day.

If you can trade back and still get the guy you were targeting, sure. This looks to be one of the better top 10's in recent memory, so trading out of it this year seems like a mistake unless you can find a trade partner that you can fully clean out. Either way, this looks to be a fun draft with a fair amount of uncertainty.

If either Sweat/Allen fall somehow you for sure dont want to be trading that pick. I'm also good standing pat and grabbing a freaky Ed Oliver at 8 or D.White. Those are two guys who're really talented and could turn out being all pro-style players.

Could we trade back and grab Oliver or White still? I think they're both gone by pick 12 and we miss out. We would be looking at guys like G.Williams/C.Ferrel/Hockenson. Ferrel I like but I'd rather grab one of the freaky pass rushing dline that will be gone. Greedy would be a meh shrug its ok pick + the high bust factor in a corner. No way I want Hock in this elite defensive draft. Grab a tight end later not that early in this draft.

If he trades back he should be fired.

There is a 0% chance we can’t get a D starter at 8

Lions have a lot of options in the first round with which I would be fine.

I'll play devil's advocate for a second and say, TJ Hockenson looks like a future all-pro on tape (very smooth and well-rounded player), whereas the defensive guys likely to be there for Detroit all have warts: Burns has no power to his game, Sweat and Gary have poor bend, Oliver actually wasn't very impactful in pass rush in college.

Just about every prospect has concerns. Perfect prospects are pretty much unicorns. Hockenson is an average route runner who got embarrassed in the run game vs. some better DE's.

But sometimes NFL GM's see something that makes them think a guy is a transformational player. I'm not saying he'll be a bust, but unless he is Gronk 2.0, the team will be better off grabbing one of the elite edge defenders at 8. One scenario that might make sense, is if Hockenson or Fant are still there late in the first round is a trade up, as I don't think either make it past NE at #32. Although they may end up trading up just to get Deebo Samuel. They really seem to like him, and could use another long term WR.

I think a lot of concerns about Sweat and Gary's "bend" were alleviated at the combine when they posted pretty strong 3-cone times. Sweat may end up leap-frogging Allen based on his combine performance alone, which I think would be huge for Detroit. There's like 6 defensive players possible at 8 (Allen, Sweat, Gary, Oliver, Burns, White) at least 3 or 4 will still be there, and I'd be fine with any of them. Although I do agree Burns is probably the one I do hope they pass on.

Hock May be great. But as you point out. There are several day one starters to be had at 8

We need that on D on all three levels