Worst Lions Draft Ever?
There's a lot of material to work with here. Fair over Moss quickly comes to mind. Charles Rogers was a doozy. But this is unreal. Instead of taking Bijan they decide to take a lesser back at #12 that would have absolutely been available at 18. Then at 18 they take a MLB (least valuable position player in the NFL?) that would have absolutely been available at 34. Then at 34 they take the 3rd best TE in the draft instead of the best TE that was taken by the Raiders a pick later.
The lions are that guy in your fantasy league that drafts so poorly every year that you don't even make fun of him anymore. You just encourage him to keep putting his dead money in and keep trying. Or maybe it's just your drunk uncle....
April 28th, 2023 at 10:20 PM ^
Is there a Blough out there to be scooped up? It would be kinda fun to have Hooker and Blough on the roster.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:23 PM ^
Per ESPN, the Lions have now drafted the #28, 30, 33, 43 and 58th ranked players. Seems like a pretty good draft to me.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:29 PM ^
Not when you have picks 12, 18, 34, 45, and 68.
April 29th, 2023 at 12:59 AM ^
FWIW, per PFF, we got 15, 34, 39, 43, and 47
14, 17, 40, 41, 55 at CBSsports. Fwiw
They only had 4 picks in the top 2 rounds before the trade.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
Robinson and Gibbs are NOT the same kind of running back. I wouldn’t have taken Robinson until near the back half of the first round. Gibbs is a completely different story, though. IMO he just may be the best offensive skill position player in this years draft and could be seen as a steal in a few years.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:50 PM ^
The absence of Jameson at the beginning of next year could have influenced the pick of Gibbs. They were able to add another receiving threat that would also fill their running back need.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:38 PM ^
This is the team that drafted Charles Rogers at 2, so no.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:52 PM ^
An, more recently. Okudah at number 3.
April 28th, 2023 at 11:07 PM ^
Neither of them were drafted by Holmes.
April 28th, 2023 at 10:54 PM ^
I mean if going into the draft people said you're getting...
Brian Branch at 12
Hendon Hooker at 18
Jack Campbell at 34
Jahmyr Gibbs at 45
Sam LaPorta at 68
...and we picked up a bunch of mid to late round draft capital (especially given Brad Holmes' ability to hit on those picks) people might not have liked that we didn't go harder on D early, but I think the overall reaction would be much more positive.
April 28th, 2023 at 11:06 PM ^
Maybe you should be an NFL GM...
I mean he does have as many NFL playoff wins as any other Lions GM.
To be fair the Lions GMs have 1 playoff win in like 65 years - you should have accidently won 5-6 in that time frame
April 28th, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
Nhl playoffs are on. Draft shmaft
April 28th, 2023 at 11:50 PM ^
It's a bit puzzling all. To me the most notable thing is how eager many Lions fans are now to believe in their team because of that ultimately completely pointless run last season. Given how gullible and blue-eyed the fanbase is, can you really blame the franchise for being mediocre? What incentives do they have to get better?
It's like they're saying to their fans "Are you sure you want to keep giving us money? You know we'll just blow it, right?" and meanwhile Joe Shmoe from Clinton Township is like "How much do you need? Is everything I have on me enough? I only got 200 bucks..but I could go to an ATM you know..".
April 29th, 2023 at 12:22 AM ^
The butthurt by the same ole idiot lions fans is great.
When we win the NFC championship I'm going to refer the haters back to this thread
Please do. The ones who have lived through Lions misery will do the same back at you. I will give they should make playoffs since the division is hilariously bad
Lets pump the breaks on this team.till they actually DO SOMETHING .Lions didnt up grade a historically bad run defense,are without a WR for 6 weeks (they were counting on for major production) and that WR has 1 catch in 7 career games !!
Lions are one QB injury away from being 3-14
Man these HAWT takes are awesome to read. So lets break this one down...
"Lions didn't upgrade historically bad run defense...."
A) They finished 29th (bad, but "historically bad"??)
B) They also started the youngest defense in the league last year (avg age 24) youth growing and gaining experience
C) The second half of the season, they had finished in the middle of the pack in rushing to move up from 32 to 29
D) They drafted the Top MIKE LB; the consensus best Hybrid Secondary player; and a HUGE NT. You could, of course, argue all you want about "positional" value. Its hogwash, rookie contracts are preset. The rookie salary cap is the same whether a QB is your 1st pick or a punter is your first pick. But your right, based upon your opinion alone, they did NOTHING to improve their run defense....
"are without a WR for 6 weeks (they were counting on for major production)"
A) Yup a WR that did not play much on an offense that finish 3rd in scoring last year...
B) Lets blow over also the fact that they drafted the best Flex RB with a 4.36 speed or the fact that they drafted a pass catching TE that were not on the 3rd highest scoring offense last year as well...
C) Said WR will actually be back by week 7 and will still have an impact of the final 11 weeks of the regular season as well as, hopefully, playoff games
D) Lets also gloss over the fact that said receiver was recovering from a torn ACL (Psst, he only played in 5 games and very limited action) Pfft what a waste, certainly you can know EXACTLY how he is progressing from his recovery from ACL surgery (Side personal note, my 16 yo son is doing EXACTLY this right now. He had his ACL blown out and torn meniscus last Sept 16 and is just now starting to play baseball again and it is very obvious that while is capable of playing, he is still no where near 100% yet. So, yay, I can say I have watched this up close and understand the grueling PT one has to go through to get back to 100% ...)
"Lions are one QB injury away from being 3-14"
Excellent analysis, problem is over half the teams in the NFL would be in the same situation...
Worst one I recall was Reggie Rodgers way back when Daryl Rodgers was the head coach. First round pick and very early (picks 1-5 or 6 maybe). Day or two after he gets drafted is involved in a drunk driving accident and kills someone. Never played a down.
He played 6 games in 1987 and 5 games in 1988.
Terrible pick though.
Colts fan here who actually was upbeat about the current Lions regime seemingly before you Lions fans were. And yeah, it's been a rough draft on paper. Gibbs and Campbell will be good but that's really high for the 2nd RB and an off ball linebacker, and day 2 didn't change my mind with my concerns over Branch's athleticism. I am sure some of the picks will surprise me but not loving it on paper. Still believe in Campbell and the talent.
I like the draft. In addition to their skill sets they seem to have attitudes like their new head coach about football. CBS ranked the Jack Campbell pick as an A+, though the same guy called their first pick a D.
The amount of people taking a dump on Mayer shows me how little a lot on this board understand football. Mayer will be a star in the NFL sooner rather than later. He’ll be the guy no one understands how he gets open he just gets open.
Taking an Iowa TE from one of the worst offenses in college football is hilarious.
Lions fans can justify anything. Never seen a fan base basically threw a parade down Woodward for missing the playoffs by one game.
TEs from Iowa have done pretty well in the NFL. La Porta is a good receiver as a TE. Mayer is a better receiver but that’s all you’re going to get from him. Want to run in the red zone? Mayer ain’t gonna help you much.
Bigger question: how will Iowa score points next year?
My take as a lifelong lions fan has been consistent. This regime has an actual plan, an actual culture and finds players who fit accordingly. They don’t stray from it in anyway. When you start being someone you aren’t or copying someone you can never be - you accomplish someone else goal not yours. Dan C. appears to be built on accountability and Holmes is big on cultural fit. I don’t love the positional value of the picks BUT can anyone here not see HONESTLY la porta, Campbell, Gibbs and Branch not being on the field getting meaningful reps? They will ALL play and oddly many times situationally which means they feel they have enough talent to harvest and develop depth. I think they wanted Witherspoon badly and he was probably top of their board. Seahawks surprised them but they didn’t panic, had a trade in place, and got an extra pick. The only player they drafted in this era who I believed didn’t really fit was Jameson Williams but otherwise I can’t look at their picks and feel like they don’t make sense from the standpoint of who they want to be culturally.
Spoke too soon buddy
If you expect nothing from the Lions, then you're never disappointed.
April 29th, 2023 at 10:44 AM ^
Worst draft ever? Definitely not - I think that practically any of Millen's drafts still holds that distinction. It does feel like the Lions reached up a round for many of these guys though. Time will tell, let's give them a shot and see how it plays out.
April 29th, 2023 at 11:17 AM ^
This is an epically bad take. I think it was solid and I love the Hooker get, get him healthy and bake him in the oven for a couple years. I like all the picks so far …and how can you say it’s the worst now? Call us back in 2 years big fella
Seeing as they crushed the draft last year, leadership has earned my trust so far
April 29th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
Too many responses to sift through, so if this has been said, I apologize.
If this wasn't Brad Holmes, it would be laughable. Total SOL. But Holmes has a good track record so far. My guess is he was actively trying to trade down more to get more picks, and there weren't any realistic takers. So he reached for Campbell -- which I am fine with, since we need LB help -- and LaPorta. LaPorta is a bit of a head-scratcher, since the scuttlebutt is he isnt a very good blocker, and we know (think?) that the Lions will still be run-heavier than many teams.
The real killer is Gibbs. I liked the trade-down, but Gibbs at 12? If they wanted an RB, then take Robinson at 6 and eat your flack for that move. Gibbs seems like a small dude that is going to get eaten up and injured in the league. So I dunno, Holmes has done fine, but this is weird. But if it wasn't Holmes, it would be WTF all the way.
I wonder if he feels comfortable working the second and later rounds of the draft but has trouble with top picks / first round.....time will tell I suppose.
November 9th, 2023 at 2:46 PM ^
Six months after the draft, I will say that the original post was the worst take ever. Gibbs, LaPorta, Campbell and Branch all are exactly what the Lions were hoping they'd be. Sorsdal looks like a steal. Seriously, the OP is exactly why you don't read a few mock drafts and pretend like you know more than an NFL GM.