Guess we are going to find out if they really are elite evaluators of talent.

the plan makes sense if you had Gibbs and Campbell as RB/LB #1 and those were positions you wanted to target.

@12 the "consensus" top RB comes off the board with Bijan, you've moved down and picked up some capital, take your top guy.

@18 there have already been two LB's off the board, can Campbell make it back to 34?

not saying it's my preferred plan, feels like they've drunken their own cool-aid a bit. just saying I kinda maybe see what they're thinking?

this also takes into account Swift likely won't be a part of this team.

If they were in love with the RBs shouldnt of signed DMont to a top 15 RB contract and just took the generational RB in Bijan.

https://twitter.com/woodwardsports/s...08914608930816

Here Holmes said some of the guys he wanted were taken before the pick but Gibbs "was one of those guys". Gibbs had to of been the last guy on the list then because they knew he was gonna last.

This draft is a clear blunder.

Passing up Bijan and grabbing Gibbs reminds me of this. We took Swift over Taylor and Dobbins and Taylor was clearly it. We historically fail on these kinda picks it is what it is.

Gibbs is electric hes a better prospect then Swift but hes still in that mold under 200 pound 15 touch a game type back. Bijan is generational and if we HAD to go RB take the fkn generational guy at least.

I'm looking over at the Eagles draft like how did they top us so hard? Thats a winning draft. Anyways we got tons of picks coming hopefully Holmes makes this look good and in a few years I quote myself being completely off on this first round.

All draft grades are just sort of best guess takes until the guys take the field. They're based on public perception of who the top players are and what positions are the most important.

This feels bad and might end up being bad. But it doesn't feel Brandon Pettigrew or Jahlani Tavai bad. At least these guys can play. Like most drafts if these guys end up just kind of mid Holmes will ultimately be judged based on who he passed up.

I like the trade as it feels like there is a lot of meat in 15-40 here and they added another pick there.

I am very nervous about Philly, current NFC champions, adding Jalen Carter. I really really hope we were right to pass on him. Because if he ends up being as good as his college tape, we are never getting passed Philly even if we do make the NFCCG.

Man I really want to see the positives here - its way too easy to say SOL and laugh and start on your 2024 mocks.


Gibbs - what a shock! Only saw one trade back from 18 scenario with Gibbs in the early 20s but obviously the Lions were much higher on him than that. Reading NFL *comparables* of Jamaal Charles/Alvin Kamara gives me some hope but likely we wont know the true value of this pick for several years.

Campbell - not gonna lie, was totally on board with selecting him but thought we would be using our newly found pick 34. Again, pretty obvious Holmes didn't think he would make it to their next pick. Talked to my buddy who goes to most Iowa games and he said Campbell's game reminds him of Brian Urlacher - obviously nobody gonna complain if we see anywhere close to that level.

Yup. Holmes impressed me when he passed on Malik Willis in the 2nd round last year; people had mocked Willis to DET in the 1st (a few at #2 overall), and no one would have batted an eyelash if we took him in the mid-2nd - he would have got an A grade from the media and fans. But he trusted his evaluation and passed.

Last night he did the same thing, twice. He (and from the looks of the draft room MCDC) are convinced they got foundational building blocks. I hope they're right. After seeing a ton of mocks showing Gonzalez to DET at 6, everyone (myself very much included) would be singing Holmes' praises if he had grabbed Gonzalez at 12 and picked up an extra second rounder. Holmes believes Gibbs helps the team more than a starting CB. I'm surprised, but we'll get a chance to see if he's right. Campbell even more so, as you just don't see off-ball LBs drafted in the mid-first round anymore. I've never seen him play a snap of football so I don't know ****, but I sure didn't like the scouting reports I read that he plays slower than his RAS and he can take bad first steps sometimes and end up walled off of making plays. Holmes didn't think that's too accurate, we'll get plenty of chance to see if he's right.

I was pretty damn bummed last night. Now, I've managed to remind myself that I couldn't say "In Brad I Trust" too often in the 365 days before yesterday. I certainly hope he knows what he's doing. But he's at least earned some time before writing it off as a bust.

On the other hand apparently Kirk Herbstreit thinks the Lions nailed the first round. He isn't your typical talking head draft Muppet either

https://www.prideofdetroit.com/2023/...-jack-campbell

Yep.

Three picks in Round 2. Let's go get some more players. Lots and lots of guys I like. How about a big DT, maybe OCyrus Torrance, a TE.

Well he’s gone off script again. I sure hope he’s not getting a case of FPS.

Branch seems like a solid value at 45.

Yeah - even the most cynical of Lions fans will have to agree Branch is a great pick here

Jayden reed in Green Bay makes me irrationally angry.

First draft of Holmes I've hated. Seems all the national Holmes and Lions hype got to their heads this year.

We traded Hock which I was OK with at the time. That said I wasnt operating under the impression we would use a better pick then we traded for to draft another TE. TEs anywhere near the first round are no nos from me. Best to get vets or draft them late 2nd+ as their so hit or miss. We didnt even draft the consensus top guy in Mayer either.

If we were aiming RB in the draft why do we give D.Mont a top 15 RB bag of money? We 100% know we can get the generational Bijan or Gibbs easily in this draft. Why didnt we start shopping Swift early? Mistakes were made.

This entire thing is just pizz poor planning and resource management overall. Were going to be better next season but were just lowering or long term ceiling misusing resources. As our team gets better and big contracts come out is when these mistakes hurt you.

I was fine with Hooker and Branch was a steal anyways.

To my eye I like LaPorta better than Mayer. He’s more fluid, better in space. Mayer is very good, just more stiff. But we will see the results on the field.

Laporta is a better athlete then Mayer and does move better. Mayer is a contested catch monster with high level route running for a guy that size. Mayer is younger being a 3 year guy not 4 year like Laporta. Mayer was ultra productive from day one and got better every year. He was the #1 option in the passing game for multiple seasons was used all over the place and runs really good routes and can block. Not saying Laporta cant turn out better TE is tough to call but I think Mayer is a step up as a prospect.

All that said I wouldnt of took either of these guys that high. TEs are hard to develop and a crapshoot overall. The best TE in this draft could easily be the freak of nature Darnell Washington or something and he went pick 93 I'd of been aiming him.

Anyways I'm down on the draft but at least we got Branch in there that helps. If Gibbs can be a Jamal Charles type player and we start winning playoff games I wont be thinking about this draft to much. That said if we fizzle out with a peak of 11 wins and just win a playoff game once or twice and arent contending for superbowls I will be looking back at this draft as a what could of been.

Pretty close.

UDFA time!

Not even 30 minutes post draft and the Lions have already signed Minny RB Mo Ibrahim. Nice.

Warning: Long post time.

Now that I've had some time to chew on this draft a bit, I have my thoughts on each player. Before that, I'll just say that I don't get too hung up on how guys compare to consensus big boards. We all have a rough understanding for how productive we expect guys picked 12/18/34 etc. to play. As long as these guys perform roughly that well, I'll be fine with it. There's some stuff to be said about positional value, and that makes more sense, but overall I'm not super concerned there either as long as these guys have a chance to be on the field, the position matters.

Jahmyr Gibbs - I could go either way on this pick. He's got home run speed which I love in a RB. I'm tired of guys that get taken down when tacklers have an easy angle to take. But a guy with true top end speed can be a problem. This guy is a weapon in the pass game too. My only real beef with the pick is again positional value. He plays a similar role to Montgomery and won't see a huge ton of snaps at first. But I'll go back to my thing about you try to get 3 starters out of a draft, and he's RB1A, so that counts.

Jack Campbell - I won't lie, I'm excited about this pick. Remember 2014 when our defense was good. Deandre Levy was a big part of that. He made plays from the LB position, and good Linebackers make plays. There's some concern that Campbell isn't that guy, and that's a legitimate concern. But I do think to have a very strong defense you need playmakers at all 3 levels. We've got some on the D-Line now in Hutch and Houston. The secondary is starting to fill out nicely. But that middle layer is lacking. Anzalone and Rodrigo did an admirable job holding down the middle of the field, but the game flipping plays like INTs and huge stuffs were few and far between. If Campbell can do more of that, then hell yeah this pick was worth it. He's probably a significant contributing starter day 1.

Sam LaPorta. I know **** all about this guy. I think this was our first "luxury" pick as the TE room is reasonably OK and didn't need to have a huge impact last year. It feels like we traded Hock for a younger and cheaper version which I guess is fine. He's probably TE1 now, so there's starter #3.

Brian Branch - I get he was high on a lot of draft boards and was mocked in the teens a lot, but there's a reason every other NFL team let him slip to 45. He's productive but undersized and not very athletic. He's not Teez Tabor slow, and he's got some burst, but there's reason to be worried. Our secondary is getting crowded, especially at safety/nickel corner. I'm not sure how many snaps he plays as a rookie but I have a feeling that barring injuries it's sub 50%.

Hendon Hooker - I like it. He slipped pretty far, so why not. I hear nothing but good things, and that if he was a few years younger and uninjured he'd be a top 10 pick. So to get someone whose that solid this late in the draft is very nice. He gives them some nice insurance if Goff goes down or they don't want to pay him the big $$ later, or if Goff just regresses to old Goff who got shipped out of LA. His game reminds me a bit of Stafford but with some running abilities. Very strong arm, and always looking to push the ball down the field. He throws in rhythm very well. He needs to learn to slide more if he's gonna run.

Brodric Martin - They need a rotational NT and got it. I'm not sure why they felt the need to trade up other than Holmes had more picks than he needed at this point so why not if you think he's your dude.

Colby Sorsdal - I love a good backup swing tackle. Hopefully he can be that guy. They needed depth at tackle and hopefully got it.
Antoine Green - I have no idea who this is but with Cephus gone and Jamo suspended this guy could make it as WR5 if he has a good camp. Otherwise it's practice squad time for this young man.

Finally, they ultimately neglected some positions. Most notably interior pass rush, by deciding to trade back instead of take Jalen Carter, and pass up on Calijah Kancey at 18. I suspect the quality of this draft will ultimately be determined by how productive those two obvious pass-ups will be. They also still lack long term help at outside corner. Witherspoon going 5 was a surprise, but they could've gotten Gonzales at 12. If he balls out, that's another mark against this class. Finally they have long term need at OG and had some options at 34, notably Steve Avila who went a few picks later. The good news is for CB and G they can wait another year, but those are positions completely passed over by Holmes so far in all 3 drafts.

Watched some Gibbs highlights. Interesting

There are not many players in the NFL that can run, stop, run without breaking stride. Granted when looking at college highlights they can probably find some decent film on everybody but he really looked like a special player.

Read an article summarizing draft grades and they were, honestly, better than I would have expected. Some B+ grades, a B or two, and a couple that were in the C range with one C-. No ZOMG FAILs.

I haven’t seen a bad draft grade for a single team. Everyone gets a trophy I guess?

I saw a copy of a Chiefs draft grade from years back that gave a C- for Mahomes as a huge reach and unrefined player that may never be NFL ready. Draft grades are lazy clickbait.

He's an ankle breaker that created problems for some top college defenses, so that should translate nicely to the NFL. His comp is Alvin Kamara. He's like a younger, faster, better, and hopefully healthier version of Swift. There's no doubt he's got skills that many other backs don't. He's going to be a weapon that Ben Johnson should have a lot of fun with. Even if he only plays 30% of snaps at first, that's still enough to do some real damage given his explosive play threat.

after putting on my lolyoutube scouting hat that's kinda where my head is with it. this regime really seems to value guys who are swiss army knife's. if they use him like that and move him around a ton to create mismatches then who cares what the value says about drafting a RB early? from what I've seen he certainly looks to be that type of guy. if they use him like your run of the mill 3rd down back obv it was a bad selection.

all in all I like pretty much all of the guys they drafted and am not really interested in arguing the value. this team had few holes and it certainly appears to have gotten better.

the under the radar late guy I like is Colby Sorsdal. obv not gonna be a major thing anytime soon but he's a decent sized guy who seems like he moves well, and most importantly, looks super gritty and tough! not sure where it'll be but I can see him starting on this oline in like 2 years.

Even the most Cold-Hearted SOL fan among us should enjoy this 5 year old article about a homeless HS kid living in a shelter with his grandmother

Spoiler alert: they compared his running moves with a UGA standout you may remember

https://www.dailycitizen.news/sports...1a03d3ee5.html