2023 Draft Early Winners & Losers

[Louis Friend]

For as bad as I thought the Lions did last night, I think they killed it tonight. 
 

Sam LaPorta- TE Iowa 6’3” 243lbs- Athletic, decent blocker, can catch the ball. Lions don’t need a star receiver at TE. They need someone who can do everything well. That’s LaPorta. 

Brian Branch- S Alabama 6’0” 190lbs- Top rated safety in the draft, can also play some nickle. Highly intelligent. Will learn from CGJ. 

Hendon Hooker- QB Tennessee 6’3” 217lbs- Will sit and learn behind Jared Goff. Is older but still has room for improvement. He’s not a risk taker despite his scrambling ability. Keeps his turnovers down. 

Brodric Martin- DT Western Kentucky 6’5” 337lbs- Solid space eater. Plays with good motor and strength but staying in shape could be an issue. Will fill the run defence hole on IDL the Lions have lacked. 

 

Edited April 29, 2023 by Louis Friend

[Ragnarok]

1 minute ago, incognito_man said:

Your Help With Negativity Coach definitely lost today 

We could have had such a better draft to help Love next year.  JSN at 13, any other available TE at 42, just about any other player at 45.  Kraft isn't that bad in comparison, but good lord, we have sucked.

[Ragnarok]

2 minutes ago, beekay414 said:

Okay well then come tell us more about the guy that can't get open, the 7th rounder RAS WR and the guy that can't play the position. Open invitation.

It's not like my opinion is going to change.  You just hope other people will come side with you because you can't make a viable argument on your own.

[Dr LBC]

The Lions redeemed themselves today.  To the extent that if you wanted to swap Branch with either of their either of their 1st round picks and have instead taken Gibbs on Day 2, I think people are looking at their draft so-far as one of the better ones going.

I say this as a LaPorta fan, and one who clearly doesn't think he's George Kittle, but if we project ahead 5 years from now, I don't think it's going to be all that shocking to people that LaPorta went ahead of Mayer.  People really need to understand the context of how Iowa's offense functioned; everyone and their mother on the opposing defense knew that LaPorta was the primary receiving option outside of any running back (and they were still a run-first offense operating with a less-than-optimal QB in Spencer Petras)... and LaPorta still produced in spite of that.

[BetterCallSaul]

4 minutes ago, Louis Friend said:

For as bad as I thought the Lions did last night, I think they killed it tonight. 
 

Sam LaPorta- TE Iowa 6’3” 243lbs- Athletic, decent blocker, can catch the ball. Lions don’t need a star receiver at TE. They need someone who can do everything well. That’s LaPorta. 

Brian Branch- S Alabama 6’0” 190lbs- Top rated safety in the draft, can also play some nickle. Highly intelligent. Will learn from CGJ. 

Hendon Hooker- QB Tennessee 6’3” 217lbs- Will sit and learn behind Jared Goff. Is older but still has room for improvement. He’s not a risk taker despite his scrambling ability. Keeps his turnovers down. 

Brodric Martin- DT Western Kentucky 6’5” 337lbs- Solid space eater. Plays with good motor and strength but staying in shape could be an issue. Will fill the run defence hole on IDL the Lions have lacked. 

 

I thought all of those picks were terrible, except for Branch, who is a superstar. 

[General Tso]

On paper the Packers' skill positions got a lot better while still taking a high upside Edge in Van Ness.

Just hoping Jordan Love is merely Derek Carr level.

[Malfatron]

Just now, General Tso said:

On paper the Packers' skill positions got a lot better while still taking a high upside Edge in Van Ness.

 

Isnt that true for any team who added players?

[General Tso]

Just now, Malfatron said:

Isnt that true for any team who added players?

I should add the caveat of "which is not what I expected of Gute"

[AkronsWitness]

2 minutes ago, General Tso said:

On paper the Packers' skill positions got a lot better while still taking a high upside Edge in Van Ness.

Just hoping Jordan Love is merely Derek Carr level.

ahh Derek Carr, the ultimate barometer of average

[Daniel]

Giants had a great day. Schmitz and Tillman are fantastic grabs.

Steelers too. Benton a bit of a reach, but Porter was mocked to them at 17 and they got Washington for nothing.

Pats and Saints also had great picks imo.

Probably my fan bias, but I thought the Titans had the worst day. Went in desperately needing receiving weapons in the rebuild, and came out with one less pick next year, a QB without pocket presence, and a RB without an ACL.

[JMG5]

1 hour ago, tyler735 said:

I really liked what the Saints did on day 2. I think we got 2 players in Isaiah Foskey and Kendre Miller who can contribute right away as rookies. Kendre was someone that I was liking quite a bit leading up to the draft as I felt he was flying a bit under the radar since he had that injury late in the season and wasn’t able to do any testing.

A productive, athletic DE who is already pretty solid against the run that wasn't from a small D2 school? Sign me up. 

In our first 3 picks we rebuilt our DL and got some Kamara insurance/replacement. After seeing the run on RB I think they had to take Miller when they did. He wouldn't have been there in the 4th.

Overall I'm very satisfied with our draft so far. We've been pleasantly predictable.

[Scoundrel]

10 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Giants had a great day. Schmitz and Tillman are fantastic grabs.

Steelers too. Benton a bit of a reach, but Porter was mocked to them at 17 and they got Washington for nothing.

Pats and Saints also had great picks imo.

Probably my fan bias, but I thought the Titans had the worst day. Went in desperately needing receiving weapons in the rebuild, and came out with one less pick next year, a QB without pocket presence, and a RB without an ACL.

Hyatt my friend

[nagahide13]

34 minutes ago, AkronsWitness said:

ahh Derek Carr, the ultimate barometer of average

Wandy Rodriguez retired. And played baseball.

[Teen Girl Squad]

28 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Giants had a great day. Schmitz and Tillman are fantastic grabs.

Steelers too. Benton a bit of a reach, but Porter was mocked to them at 17 and they got Washington for nothing.

Pats and Saints also had great picks imo.

Probably my fan bias, but I thought the Titans had the worst day. Went in desperately needing receiving weapons in the rebuild, and came out with one less pick next year, a QB without pocket presence, and a RB without an ACL.

It would seem that Robinson might have been a bit more of a fall guy than anticipated as this is a very similar draft. It seems like Vrabel greatly overvalues grit and toughness while underrating most everything else.

[Epyon]

I'm going to go ahead and call the Bears a loser today.

They have zero players who can play Center on the roster and they had chances to draft every Center taken, which more or less included every guy I had as a day 1 starter....

Philosophically speaking, I'd add dropping all 3 picks on defense today was questionable in itself..... Bears defense was admittedly bad last year, and I while I don't hate the picks themselves (Dexter-DT, Stevenson-CB, Pickens-DT), we are also down to the wire on evaluating Fields as a long term guy, and almost assuredly still non competitive this season. I'd much rather have seen over investment in the offense, so we give Fields every opportunity to show us he can be the guy now, and at least make the games fun to watch.