RedRamage

If either or both of the 3rd rounders were more than complete duds I'd agree that it's an A or even A+ draft. I get where both of you are coming from: MB: You got FOUR A+ players... how can this be anything other than a spectacular, A+ draft? MCS: You got ZERO production out of TWO 3rd round picks. Can't give a perfect score for a draft with that. On one hand this has to be one of the best drafts by any team in terms of star players acquired. All four of those players could end up being HOF players. And yet... it could have been more.

Haven't read the whole thread so maybe others have already said this, but I think you're being too hard to on the 5th & 7th round picks. By the time you're hitting the late rounds of the draft you're getting backup level players. Sorsdal has been a backup player. How do you rate players taken in the 5th, 6th, or 7th rounds? Do you rate them based on the product of the player himself? Or do you rate it based on the the expected value at that pick? If you rate it based on the player himself, then sure... a D, maybe D+. But then you need to weight that grade when looking at the draft. A bad grade in the 5th round should count a LOT less than a bad grade in the 2nd round. Personally I think when you're grading a draft you're grading the Front Office, not the players. So I think it's far more fair to grade based on expected value. In this sense I expect a solid backup player in the 5th round... Sorsdal has maybe been a bit under "solid backup," so maybe a B+ grade for the value we got from that position. In the same way 7th rounders are people I'm generally happy to see actually make the team and play in a handful of games. I'd give a C+ grade on the Green pick.

But, does he stare at you from his suite when you attend games?

Yeah, but Safety was a bigger need, so... looks like Holmes is back to BPA over need. I'm vindicated!

If they take a safety this round @buddha gonna have a field day with all of us! 🙂

I think it's too early to tell on that. He wasn't super productive last season, but he was coming back from an injury as well, so it's possible he'll be back to his old self this year.

It's very strange... there are other TCU players listed in the draft and they do have TCU as their school. If you look at prospects and filter those with no college there are three players listed: Bud Clark, of course, and Joshua Weru, a rugby player from Kenya, and Uar Bernard, a player who was in some NFL camps in Afrcia (originally from Nigeria).

Just noticed this while scanning through the second round... why isn't TCU listed as the school for Bud Clark?

I mean... he was right in the sense that the Ravens took and Edge right after the Lions... we'll never know for sure if they would have taken Moore over Young if they were both on the board. Probably the most telling would be how the Ravens draft room reacted... not sure if they release any of the video or not. I said before and I'll say it again: At this point I'm still in the "in Brad we trust" camp.

Well, there were a few edges taken before Moore, so it's possible that they could have been ranked higher and Moore was just the highest rated left.

From a positional stand point I'd be disappointed by that. But as of right now I'm still firmly in the camp of: "In Brad we Trust."

I would agree with this 100%. Excellent way to looking at it.

In theory... yes. You have established stars in Hutch, McNeill, Campbell, Branch, and Joseph. You have first round talent in Arnold and Williams. That's 7 out of 11 spots that could all be pro-bowl level pieces. In practice... probably not. McNeill was not great last year, though that hopefully is just him getting back up to speed after the injury. Branch will likely miss most (if not all) of '26. If he does come back before the end of the season he'll likely not be up to his old self, at least not right away (see: McNeill, 2025) Joseph may or may not play much of '26, and may or may not be up to his previous caliber when he does play. Arnold seemed to be improving, but obviously that got derailed by the injuries, so who knows what '26 will look like for him. Williams rookie season was an INC in my opinion. There were some good signs, but he didn't play enough or show enough yet to warrant 1st round pick status. Huge emphasis on the 'yet' part. There's still plenty of time for him to show his skills and "earn" the 1st round pick. All of this is a long winded way of saying: In a best case senario with star players returning healthy and young players continuing to develop as one might expect, then yes a 4th best grade is spot on... maybe even too low. But in a worst case senario where injured players don't return in '26 and/or young guys don't continue to develop, we're probably looking at more like a 16th (or worse) grade.

Oh, so you don't consider me important enough to personally attack, huh? Wow... just dismiss me as frivolous... I see how it is.

You gotta figure the Lions will be pulling as much data out of Miller that can about him. I mean obviously they've already done their homework, but now that they've got an additional information source they better be using it.

I am a bit disappointed that Rutledge went to the Texans... I mean, I know G isn't high on the list of needs, but how cool would it have been to have a Rutledge and a Ratledge as our starting guards??

It was a hard decision for them because they really like Miller and his upside outweighed his lack of injuries. However the Lions believe that they can rectify the situation. My insiders tell me that the Lions have hired someone to take a crowbar to Miller's knee when he gets off the plane in Detroit.

Because I feel personally attacked by this post, I'm gonna defend myself (even though I know this was mostly just meant as humor). The reality is that ALL GMs have ALWAYS mixed need and BPA. It's never a question of all NEED or all BPA, but rather how much does one vs. the other impact the decision. And even that's way to simple of a question. How big is the need? Like does a team literally have no one on the staff who could be expected to be an adequate starter or do they have someone who would be okay, but they'd really prefer to upgrade? Saying Holmes is a BPA guy isn't saying that he only drafts the BPA and never the need, just that the slider between NEED and BPA is well past half-way towards the BPA side. I consider BPA to be more important in Holmes determination than it likely is for most NFL GMs.

Lions are gonna roll out with a 3-tackle base set this year.

I wonder if he's feeling too much weight of people expecting him to be the next hotshot prospect (after Clark of course)? Of course, maybe I'm reading way too much into it but his K numbers are AWFUL so far this young season. Striking out at a 43.4% clip. (23 Ks in 53 PA)

WHY HAVEN'T WE CALLED HIM UP YET!??!?!?!?!??!

Rainer seems off to a very slow start.

This isn't very clear to me... Are you saying there's a possibility you'd want Proctor?

This is the big thing for me... now obviously it's possible that Holmes and Campbell are talking themselves into a pick based on need and/or impressive athletic ability. But given how important the "right fit" has always been in terms of attitude and drive and motivation, I find it harder to think that they would get sucked into a player who doesn't have the mental make up that they're looking for. If they draft Proctor I'd assume that he's got the mental make up to do the job for them until proven otherwise. This is NOT a "Brad and do no wrong" thing... this is more that attitude seems to important to the Lions that I don't see them taking a guy who got great potential but poor attitude.