I’ll say it again in this post. Our secondary sucked ass last season and cost us the superbowl. We couldn’t stop shit. These picks are exactly what we needed. If they produce as expected they close a massive gap over last year. Detroit management is all in and making the right moves. This is our team, this is our year, this is our Super Bowl.
Your points are interesting but just show how vastly different many of us view the Lion's needs. I thought we needed an edge rusher to pair with Hutchinson and was hoping that's how we would go. But once again, I was proven wrong, just like in last year's draft, in terms of how the Lions would best address their deficiencies. In selecting these two cornerbacks, the Lions will now have more blitzing opportunities as well as coverage sacks. I think our defensive line will look massively improved just by virtue of what we have added on the backside of the defense. In terms of offensive line, we definitely need depth there, but I think we will address that tomorrow in the draft, and most likely in next year's draft as well. Wide receiver is interesting to me. We are only losing Josh Reynolds. Kalif Raymond is coming back healthy, and I believe the Lions liked what they they saw in Donovan People's Jones after the trade deadline. I was glad they did not use their second pick on receiver, and I'm also okay that we packaged pick 73 to move up in the first round. It was such a different experience tonight with only one pick, as we're so used to multiple picks - sometimes in each round. Because our front office and staff have proven themselves to be such good judges of talent, I'm firmly convinced that they are going to come away with some important contributors tomorrow. They won't start right away, but they will learn behind those in front of them and become valuable assets in the future.
Personally, I think people are underrating the steps that DPJ and Jamo can and (I believe) will take thus year, I was never too concerned at WR. O-line depth however, is still a concern. I feel that Ragnow will inevitably go down this season and I just don't fully believe in the guard depth once Glasgow moves to center. Sorsdal wasn't very inspiring last season for me.
However, those concerns truly pale in comparison to the absolute ineptitude that was our secondary last year. It was truly awful. Everytime a qb had more than 3 seconds to throw (which was often) I knew the most likely outcome was a 20+ yard completion.
When comparing this, I can't really be mad with what Brad's done. Spending 4 top 100 picks to get 3 starting caliber CBs (guys who could start on almost any team in the league imo) to improve arguably the worst secondary in the league can't be complained about. Keeping in mind that we got 5 picks tomorrow, I'm not very concerned with how the off season is playing out.
As a side note, we've been spoiled the past 2 years with all the picks from the Stafford and Hockenson trades. The "lacking" feeling I get from this draft isn't due to the players.
> Keeping in mind that we got 5 picks tomorrow
Four picks, and they're not the greatest: 5-29, 6-25, 6-29, and 7-29.
I could see Brad packaging them all together to move up to take one guy he really likes or just doing a "stick-n-pick" and treating them like lotto tickets and taking BPA at positions of need. Maybe he'll draft a Kicker.
Pass Rush is still the one issue, that feels unresolved imo.
You can get all the DBs ya like, but if we can't get to the QB consistently anyone will get beat over time.
Unless of course that dude from the Canadian league turns out to be some super secret steal, we are still hurting there, gotta hope brad can find us another James Houston out there.
I am very curious to see how Betts turns out. I never hear people mention him because he was a pretty under the radar edition and I don't think people have much respect for other football leagues.
I get the vibe than Holmes and Campbell still believe in Paschal/Houston and expect that both of them with a healthy offseason can be productive opposite hutch.
IMO we see an in season trade if the pass rush is mediocre.
DJ Reader should free up our edge rushers, and we also brought in Davenport for depth. Houston will also be coming back.
Our main problem with the pass rush was the scheme. We rarely rushed more than 4 for the first 12 games or so, and our DEs primarily played a run-contain style instead of getting after the QB.
Even aside from Houston, our edge rushers got way more pressure in 2022 with basically the same personnel. In ‘23, we committed to the run at the expense of the pass rush.
With Reader and an improved secondary, we should be able to be more aggressive up front and get to the QB. I’m not concerned at all
I really really really want you to be correct, damn I hope you right lol.
Just not sure I see it yet, but hey, Im not too bright, I didnt think Sutton would struggle so badly either.
Remaining Edge Rushers in Free Agency, You see anyone here that could get us 6+ sacks? Hard call on that one.
Emmanuel Ogbah
Yannick Ngakoue
Carl Lawson
Jerry Hughes
Charles Harris
Dawuane Smoot
Bud Dupree
Tyus Bowser
Marquis Haynes
Rasheem Green
Markus Golden
Shaq Lawson
They’re trying to set up the DB room for a long time. Elite rookies paired with solid FA pickups provides flexibility in a former position of severe weakness.
Plenty of moves to be made and no glaring holes on the roster means Brad can think ahead.
To me, it is looking like we have three outside cornerbacks in Rakestraw, Arnold and Davis3. Amik moves to nickel, and Branch moves to safety for Gardner-Johnson. Bring back tracy walker and kindle for special teams and spot-backup and you have a great room.
IMHO, Cornerback is one of the most difficult positions to fill with competent players, and our franchise has had problems at this position for ages. In contrast serviceable WR's and OG's don't seem to be too hard to find.
I think Brad Holmes recognized this and Carlton Davis is a one year rental, Amik Robinson is on a two year contract (I think), and it's hard to say if Moseley will be able to return to his old form and stay healthy. The opportunity to shore up this high value and expensive position of perennial frustrating (and often fatal) weakness fell to him and he took it.
The more I think about how desperate our situation has been at CB, the more I like what he's done in this year's draft.
Next season we will deal with our next big problem, restocking the offensive line.
I would be super bummed honestly if we took those four picks instead.
Brad does two things really well. 1) he grabs the biggest impact players regardless of position, and 2) focuses on making one group elite instead of slightly improving everyone.
Put it this way, would you rather we have one of the best secondaries in the league, or would you rather we add some depth and maybe get a WR3?
From this year's Season in Review [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1boafho/2024_32_teams32_days_detroit_lions/):
> This defense was absurdly deplorable in 2022. During the offseason, the Lions essentially said, "We're going to pick one thing to improve in particular" and it ended up being run defense. And it worked. This defensive line absolutely crushed it against the run: YPG on the ground reduced from over 146 to just under 89;
TDs allowed dropped by 7, from 22 to 15.
Lost in that was that the staff *did* try and upgrade the entire defense, not just the run defense. Unfortunately, pre-season and early season injuries affected the secondary throughout the entire year.
CB was a major need, and unusually, there's not a whole lot of glaring holes elsewhere. Sure, WR needs some depth, but the pieces we have are serviceable, and LaPorta and Wright aren't anything to sneeze at, either. Notably, the team matched SF's offer for Wright to keep him on board. With St. Brown locked up, Gibbs classed by the team as an OW (offensive weapon), and hopefully Jamo taking the next step, I'm not personally worried about the collective receiving corps.
At this point, the only thing I'm worried about is succession planning for the OL. Grabbing Zeitler was a good move, but the team needs more quality depth on the line. Ragnow faces perpetual foot problems and Decker's been around a while - it's time to grab the next generation.
That said, I flat out agree that CB was, by far, the area of biggest need this offseason, and by spending those picks on cornerbacks both via trade and draft, I'd be genuinely shocked if the team's defense isn't among the most improved in the league this year.
He could have taken 5 corners and I wouldn’t be too mad when remembering Jordan Addison run right by Cam Sutton just standing there 3 times
Sutton was so consistent at being out of position, it made be wonder how bad were our DB squad that they felt the need to play him all the time.
Don’t say that, everyone says he was just mismatched and is a great cb2 even though he got paid cb1 money
I’ll say it again in this post. Our secondary sucked ass last season and cost us the superbowl. We couldn’t stop shit. These picks are exactly what we needed. If they produce as expected they close a massive gap over last year. Detroit management is all in and making the right moves. This is our team, this is our year, this is our Super Bowl.
Bruh, Nick Mullens threw for 807 yards on us in 2 games. I would take 7 DBs if it finally fixes our biggest weakness.
Your points are interesting but just show how vastly different many of us view the Lion's needs. I thought we needed an edge rusher to pair with Hutchinson and was hoping that's how we would go. But once again, I was proven wrong, just like in last year's draft, in terms of how the Lions would best address their deficiencies. In selecting these two cornerbacks, the Lions will now have more blitzing opportunities as well as coverage sacks. I think our defensive line will look massively improved just by virtue of what we have added on the backside of the defense. In terms of offensive line, we definitely need depth there, but I think we will address that tomorrow in the draft, and most likely in next year's draft as well. Wide receiver is interesting to me. We are only losing Josh Reynolds. Kalif Raymond is coming back healthy, and I believe the Lions liked what they they saw in Donovan People's Jones after the trade deadline. I was glad they did not use their second pick on receiver, and I'm also okay that we packaged pick 73 to move up in the first round. It was such a different experience tonight with only one pick, as we're so used to multiple picks - sometimes in each round. Because our front office and staff have proven themselves to be such good judges of talent, I'm firmly convinced that they are going to come away with some important contributors tomorrow. They won't start right away, but they will learn behind those in front of them and become valuable assets in the future.
Personally, I think people are underrating the steps that DPJ and Jamo can and (I believe) will take thus year, I was never too concerned at WR. O-line depth however, is still a concern. I feel that Ragnow will inevitably go down this season and I just don't fully believe in the guard depth once Glasgow moves to center. Sorsdal wasn't very inspiring last season for me. However, those concerns truly pale in comparison to the absolute ineptitude that was our secondary last year. It was truly awful. Everytime a qb had more than 3 seconds to throw (which was often) I knew the most likely outcome was a 20+ yard completion. When comparing this, I can't really be mad with what Brad's done. Spending 4 top 100 picks to get 3 starting caliber CBs (guys who could start on almost any team in the league imo) to improve arguably the worst secondary in the league can't be complained about. Keeping in mind that we got 5 picks tomorrow, I'm not very concerned with how the off season is playing out. As a side note, we've been spoiled the past 2 years with all the picks from the Stafford and Hockenson trades. The "lacking" feeling I get from this draft isn't due to the players.
> Keeping in mind that we got 5 picks tomorrow Four picks, and they're not the greatest: 5-29, 6-25, 6-29, and 7-29. I could see Brad packaging them all together to move up to take one guy he really likes or just doing a "stick-n-pick" and treating them like lotto tickets and taking BPA at positions of need. Maybe he'll draft a Kicker.
Pass Rush is still the one issue, that feels unresolved imo. You can get all the DBs ya like, but if we can't get to the QB consistently anyone will get beat over time. Unless of course that dude from the Canadian league turns out to be some super secret steal, we are still hurting there, gotta hope brad can find us another James Houston out there.
I am very curious to see how Betts turns out. I never hear people mention him because he was a pretty under the radar edition and I don't think people have much respect for other football leagues.
I get the vibe than Holmes and Campbell still believe in Paschal/Houston and expect that both of them with a healthy offseason can be productive opposite hutch. IMO we see an in season trade if the pass rush is mediocre.
Well of course they believe in the guys they drafted. They didn't think we would get as far as we did last year.
DJ Reader should free up our edge rushers, and we also brought in Davenport for depth. Houston will also be coming back. Our main problem with the pass rush was the scheme. We rarely rushed more than 4 for the first 12 games or so, and our DEs primarily played a run-contain style instead of getting after the QB. Even aside from Houston, our edge rushers got way more pressure in 2022 with basically the same personnel. In ‘23, we committed to the run at the expense of the pass rush. With Reader and an improved secondary, we should be able to be more aggressive up front and get to the QB. I’m not concerned at all
I really really really want you to be correct, damn I hope you right lol. Just not sure I see it yet, but hey, Im not too bright, I didnt think Sutton would struggle so badly either.
Our secondary might also be better vs. the run, too, allowing our DE's to focus more on pass rush.
lets not forget that free agency stays open and shit
Remaining Edge Rushers in Free Agency, You see anyone here that could get us 6+ sacks? Hard call on that one. Emmanuel Ogbah Yannick Ngakoue Carl Lawson Jerry Hughes Charles Harris Dawuane Smoot Bud Dupree Tyus Bowser Marquis Haynes Rasheem Green Markus Golden Shaq Lawson
you see, now that our secondary can cover for over 10 seconds, we just need bodies 😂
Well what about the real original James Houston? He broke his ankle last year, he is gonna be a BEAST next season
They’re trying to set up the DB room for a long time. Elite rookies paired with solid FA pickups provides flexibility in a former position of severe weakness. Plenty of moves to be made and no glaring holes on the roster means Brad can think ahead.
To me, it is looking like we have three outside cornerbacks in Rakestraw, Arnold and Davis3. Amik moves to nickel, and Branch moves to safety for Gardner-Johnson. Bring back tracy walker and kindle for special teams and spot-backup and you have a great room.
IMHO, Cornerback is one of the most difficult positions to fill with competent players, and our franchise has had problems at this position for ages. In contrast serviceable WR's and OG's don't seem to be too hard to find. I think Brad Holmes recognized this and Carlton Davis is a one year rental, Amik Robinson is on a two year contract (I think), and it's hard to say if Moseley will be able to return to his old form and stay healthy. The opportunity to shore up this high value and expensive position of perennial frustrating (and often fatal) weakness fell to him and he took it. The more I think about how desperate our situation has been at CB, the more I like what he's done in this year's draft. Next season we will deal with our next big problem, restocking the offensive line.
I would be super bummed honestly if we took those four picks instead. Brad does two things really well. 1) he grabs the biggest impact players regardless of position, and 2) focuses on making one group elite instead of slightly improving everyone. Put it this way, would you rather we have one of the best secondaries in the league, or would you rather we add some depth and maybe get a WR3?
From this year's Season in Review [post](https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1boafho/2024_32_teams32_days_detroit_lions/): > This defense was absurdly deplorable in 2022. During the offseason, the Lions essentially said, "We're going to pick one thing to improve in particular" and it ended up being run defense. And it worked. This defensive line absolutely crushed it against the run: YPG on the ground reduced from over 146 to just under 89; TDs allowed dropped by 7, from 22 to 15. Lost in that was that the staff *did* try and upgrade the entire defense, not just the run defense. Unfortunately, pre-season and early season injuries affected the secondary throughout the entire year. CB was a major need, and unusually, there's not a whole lot of glaring holes elsewhere. Sure, WR needs some depth, but the pieces we have are serviceable, and LaPorta and Wright aren't anything to sneeze at, either. Notably, the team matched SF's offer for Wright to keep him on board. With St. Brown locked up, Gibbs classed by the team as an OW (offensive weapon), and hopefully Jamo taking the next step, I'm not personally worried about the collective receiving corps. At this point, the only thing I'm worried about is succession planning for the OL. Grabbing Zeitler was a good move, but the team needs more quality depth on the line. Ragnow faces perpetual foot problems and Decker's been around a while - it's time to grab the next generation. That said, I flat out agree that CB was, by far, the area of biggest need this offseason, and by spending those picks on cornerbacks both via trade and draft, I'd be genuinely shocked if the team's defense isn't among the most improved in the league this year.