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Now That The Draft Is Done...


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Now that the draft is done and I have had a chance to think things through here is how I see things going forward:

1.  Brad Holmes continues to fill out the roster with prospects who have an "alpha dog" mentality.  This team will be more resilient and won't be anyone's doormat.

2.  Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell inherited a defense with two legitimate starters (T. Walker and A. Oruwariye).  Adding McNeil, Hutchinson, Pascal, K. Joseph, AJ Parker, Jerry Jacobs and Melifonwu should finally make our defense respectable if our players can stay reasonably healthy.

3. We still need a difference-maker at LB.  Barnes should take a step forward this year and Board was a solid addition.  They need a LB that is someone who you always has to be accounted for or know where they are on the field.

4.  The key to the success of Hutchison and Pascal will be our DTs.  If they double hutchinson, our DTs have to make other teams pay for that.  McNeil might be that guy.  Penisini is a solid rotational player who might take a step forward in 4-man front but there are still some significant question marks with our DTs.

5.  I like how aggressive they were in attacking their biggest needs:  pass-rush and WR.  Adding Jameson Williams and DJ Chark to an already productive Amon Ra St Brown gives the Lions the potential to have a dynamic and explosive offense that can attack defenses in a variety of ways.  

6.  Julian Okwara will probably have to switch to OLB if he wants to stick on the roster.  If he can find a home at LB and play to his physical potential it would be enormously helpful.

7.  We only grabbed a developmental tackle this year (Obinna Eze) but I hope we keep adding to the O-Line room next year.  

8.  The Lions exercised their fifth-year option for TJ Hockenson.  I am anxious to see if he can take another step forward now that there are other weapons around him and a more creative offensive coordinator.  Can he be a truly dominant TE like Rob Gronkowski?

9.  What are the Lions going to do with WIll Harris?  He has performed poorly as a safety but seemed to fill in pretty well as a slot CB.  Could he finally start playing up to his physical tools as a rotational CB or maybe even a LB?  

 

Thoughts?

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Kyle Menike at MLive has broken down the projected depth chart today. Clearly we still have questions (who will step up at LB, can Okudah come back healthy and be a number 1, etc), but we can clearly see that by adding Number 1's to a position group (Hutch, Williams), it causes the rest of the players to fall into the place where they make more sense in the rotation. This of course improves talent and depth simultaneously. 

I know that many have varied opinions on the players chosen after the first round, but when looking at the selections many of these guys were highly rated players by PFF. Now I know our brass doesnt use PFF as a barometer, but they do have a very robust advanced metrics system which is used in the evaluations.

All that said, our depth chart looks pretty good overall.

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I feel pretty good about our DL now, obviously Onwuzurike needs to take the next step into being a starter. I think he showed the raw strength and explosiveness but was not doing what the coaches needed to see, whatever that was.

Feel equally good about the secondary, they have so many players with potential that you have to feel like there's a good chance they'll find the 5 or 6 guys they need to be good as long as the pass rush is improved.

Linebackers, hell if I know. Probably have 2 off ball LBs in most sets and I don't feel 100% comfortable with any of them. I hope in the preseason we can pick up a veteran cut who can help.

Offense is 💯. Goff gets this year with a bona fide NFL offense. Once Jameson gets in there, we will know right away if Goff can still produce big plays consistently.

Edited by Superduperman
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Considering how he finished last season, I suspect he will do fairly well.  I honestly think Sean McVay got into his head and destroyed his confidence.  He isn't Matthew Stafford but you could make the case he was every bit as good as Joe Flacco prior to his slide.  I think the Lions would take that all day long.  By the way, he is still only 27-years old with no major injuries so he has a lot of shelf-life left.

Edited by Just Want A Title
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23 minutes ago, Just Want A Title said:

Considering how he finished last season, I suspect he will do fairly well.  I honestly think Sean McVay got into his head and destroyed his confidence.  He isn't Matthew Stafford but you could make the case he was every bit as good as Jo Flacco prior to his slide.  I think the Lions would take that all day long.  By the way, he is still only 27-years old with no major injuries so he has a lot of shelf-life left.

Yeah, I definitely think he is an above average qb who could flirt at pro bowl level if properly supported. I think when DC took over play calling, he somehow brought back Goffs confidence. But….if I’m wrong and he’s not that or that is not the situation….then he will have no excuses.

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I have some thoughts on this draft and I'll go into them more in depth later but for right now I'd like to say this; much like the last draft when you see the totality of the draft you have to like it.  Just about every player they picked is a player I liked.  I might have thought there were better players on the board at the time but it's not like Millen/Mayhew/Quinn would pick and you'd just drop your head in disgust, but these are actually good players.

And lastly I had heard alot about Paschal and how "if I had a team I would just find a way to get him on my team" type chatter, and I will say this kid makes it beyond easy to root for.  I wasn't that high on the pick when we made it, again I liked the player just thought there was better players available, but I have to say I'm rooting so hard for him to succeed and I do think he is a player on the field and in the locker room that will help the turn around.  

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15 hours ago, LionArkie said:

Yeah, I definitely think he is an above average qb who could flirt at pro bowl level if properly supported. I think when DC took over play calling, he somehow brought back Goffs confidence. But….if I’m wrong and he’s not that or that is not the situation….then he will have no excuses.

I have no faith in a guy that quits. I saw Goff throw the ball away on 2 different 4th down plays this past year. 

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16 hours ago, jrry32 said:

I wonder if Holmes will take the approach the Rams have taken during most of the McVay tenure and just not value ILBs highly.

It feels like you're right since they were reportedly happy with their LB corp pre-draft and most of us expected that to be some sort of smokescreen. 

I'm very curious to see Malcolm Rodriguez and what he can do. We've had deficiencies in coverage at LB and from everything I've read, that's also not one of his strong suits.  

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On 5/1/2022 at 4:25 PM, jrry32 said:

I wonder if Holmes will take the approach the Rams have taken during most of the McVay tenure and just not value ILBs highly.

I hope not.  Having fast LBs can help keep mobile QBs in check and limits the effectiveness of RBs in the passing as well as the running game.  They need to be able to cover TEs without bringing a safety into the box also.  Personally, I think you need playmakers at every level of a defense. 

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You are free to think however you want. As I said ouch, that’s a rough line to take on two pass plays for the season. I’d hate to be evaluated on 0.4% of my pass plays that began at the beginning of the year with a new team. If he continued playing like that for the entire season, then yeah, I get it. But since he was night and day different from the time DC took over the play calling then yeah, ouch.

so who would you have faith in instead?

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