Draft Grade

[lionscanWIN]

ha tricked you i bet you thought you were going to read something about this years haul. to not completely troll yall i thought it was solid, good depth and options added but no team savers at least not that we know of.

i am a firm believer that you never really know how your draft haul turned out for at least 3 years. naturally this isn't always the case sometimes the results just pop out much faster for better or worse.

so with the preamble out of the way i wanted to look at the 2011 draft class.

1st nick fairley
2nd titus young
2nd mikel leshoure
5th doug hogue
7th johnny culbreth

honestly the actual draft class was pathetic. young had the talent but apparently used his signing bonus to have his head surgically implanted up his ass sometime during the 2012 season. leshoure was solid but we have a new bell cow... get it then you have your late round crap shoots that missed.

the real value came from fairley who has shown flashes but a rookie turf toe and work ethic issues have stunted his potential. then there were the trades a 6th and 7th for houston who was our best CB for a year and change and Hill (kevin oconnell for a 7th for hill) who has been a reliable backup that won games and is still being used around the league.

late round moves aside the 2011 draft only provided about a years worth of depth and production. fairley's production this year will tell how bad this draft was but if he can show his value he can redeem the grade.

bottomline D with a chance at a C- if fairley can be the star he should be.

 

[lionscanWIN]

what grade do you give the 2011 class?

 

[LPinSLC]

F With a chance at a D+. Outside of Fairley, nothing is left. Leshoure? Where is he? At best for the Lions he's a #3. Move up into the 2nd to grab a 3 that may be a 4? Fairley? Flashes Greatness and then disappears. Dude is lazy. Last year to show his worth and then what if he does? What has he then shown? Contract year he gives a shit? After that, what? A series of one year deals? An absolute joke of a draft in hindsight...

 

[gandydancer]

1st nick fairley B/B-

2nd titus young LMAO

2nd mikel leshoure C/C- serviceable and then disappeared. Use him this year or that is F

5th doug hogue F

7th johnny culbreth F

Overall D- only because Fairley has produced. They let him walk and that goes to a F.

 

[Thruthefog]

1st nick fairley - a dope smoker like me

2nd titus young - a crazy motherfucker like me

2nd mikel leshoure - a dope smoker like me

5th doug hogue - helped the Lions as much as me

7th johnny culbreth - a dope smoker like me

Overall - Why don't they just sign me as a UDFA, get it over with, and spend our picks on someone who helps?

 

[Naughtymax]

The fact that Fairley has not had his very reasonable fifth season picked up makes this class a clear F minus. One so-so starter that you're going to get rid of and a backup.

 

[Dr. Evil-er]

I give this draft class the finger because it was dreadful. Millenhew at his very best.

 

[lionscanWIN]

yeah all fine points. however i feel like yall are putting too much weight on hogue and culbreath failing and not enough for converting on houston and hill. when you can look back and say that a 6th and 2 7th round picks definitely won you 8 or more games over 2 years i have a hard time giving the lions a F.

right now it is definitely a D cause fairley has not stepped up and if even if he does he can just walk right out and that draft didn't produce anything long term; but we did convert the late round picks into solid veterans that have helped. overall that whole thing was a mess but i still see some light at the end of that particular tunnel.

 

[broncosmitty]

Things certainly turned quickly on Fairley. We all knew he was a stupid, lazy, dirty fucker when we drafted him. But I still haven't figured out when everyone decided he wasn't a high end performer on the field? Hell, I remember people trying to say he was more productive than Suh as recently as mid-winter. (Which I took as posters being pissy with Suh for being expensive and non-committal.). He's a dirty/mean player and had about as much to do with the oppositions inability to run up the middle as anyone else on the roster. If he earns a second contract here, great. If he doesn't, almost a total waste of a draft.

 

[gandydancer]

yeah all fine points. however i feel like yall are putting too much weight on hogue and culbreath failing and not enough for converting on houston and hill. when you can look back and say that a 6th and 2 7th round picks definitely won you 8 or more games over 2 years i have a hard time giving the lions a F.

right now it is definitely a D cause fairley has not stepped up and if even if he does he can just walk right out and that draft didn't produce anything long term; but we did convert the late round picks into solid veterans that have helped. overall that whole thing was a mess but i still see some light at the end of that particular tunnel.

Then I feel the question should be asked differently. Draft class or season aquisitions as a whole.

 

[lionscanWIN]

well i read a mitch albom article from last year to help me refresh so my timeline wasn't extremely accurate. i thought we had traded for hill at least during the draft weekend (it was march 14th just over a month away from the draft).
in reality they were further apart but still had an effect (and IMO count) on the draft class cause they altered both the needs AND resources that draft.

this isnt like the 49ers and johnson this year where the traded draft pick isn't even known yet and had no bearing on the draft aside from they needed less WRs.

if the trades and the draft were much more removed then i would totally agree with you but because they were so interdependent, i have a hard time not factoring hill and houston. especially because CB and backup QBs are so frequently drafted with those 6 and 7th round picks.

 

[Thruthefog]

yeah all fine points. however i feel like yall are putting too much weight on hogue and culbreath failing and not enough for converting on houston and hill. when you can look back and say that a 6th and 2 7th round picks definitely won you 8 or more games over 2 years i have a hard time giving the lions a F.

right now it is definitely a D cause fairley has not stepped up and if even if he does he can just walk right out and that draft didn't produce anything long term; but we did convert the late round picks into solid veterans that have helped. overall that whole thing was a mess but i still see some light at the end of that particular tunnel.

Be careful you don't pull a muscle.