The Official 2014 Lions Draft Thread

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

I think the camp battle for the top 3 corners will be pretty good.

1. Houston
2. Slay
3. Bentley
4. Green

IMO

I have a feeling Slay won't start. It will be tough to beat out Bentley, Green, and Greenwood.

 

[uofmarmyguy]

Yeah i think SD was te'os dream team.....good fit all around.

It will be withing driving distance of his boyfriend... twoofituphispooper, or whatever his name is

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

I have a feeling Slay won't start. It will be tough to beat out Bentley, Green, and Greenwood.

I truly hope Slay starts over Bentley, Green and Greenwood. Spending a 2nd round pick on Slay tells me the coaches aren't very comfortable with the CBs they have on the roster.

IMO -- it won't be difficult for Slay to earn a starting spot over the 3 CBs drafted last year. Jonte Green showed flashes last year. Bentley struggled in his short time on the field, but it is to be expected, as it takes some time to get acclimated to the speed of the NFL if you came from a small school. I think with Slay playing in the SEC, it gives him a leg up as a rookie.

I actually believe, the guy who will give Slay the toughest run for the #2 CB spot is Ron Bartell. I wouldn't be too upset to see Bartell beat out Slay and Slay be used as the Nickel in his rookie year or vice versa.

Doesn't really matter how it turns out though -- The Lions should be much better in the secondary this year with the addition of Glover Quin, hopefully a healthy Delmas to go along with a combination of Houston paired with either Slay, Bartell, Bentley, Green and Greenwood.

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

Spending a 2nd round pick on Slay tells me the coaches aren't very comfortable with the CBs they have on the roster.

Having all of their corners injured at some point last year tells me that they needed more depth. I like the fact that he is the highest corner taken since Westbrook and Fair...still doesnt mean he will start. As to Bartell, I would be mad if he started.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Having all of their corners injured at some point last year tells me that they needed more depth. I like the fact that he is the highest corner taken since Westbrook and Fair...still doesnt mean he will start. As to Bartell, I would be mad if he started.

I agree about the injuries part, but most teams don't spend a top 40 pick to add depth to a position. If they wanted to add depth and felt comfortable with the 3 players they drafted last year -- they would have spent a late round pick on a CB, which I still think they should have done (wanted them to take Poyer late).

As far as Bartell -- he is one of those big corners that Mayhew and Schwartz love. A shade over 6'1", ran a sub 4.4, 211 lbs. He has shown, when healthy, he can play in the league, as he had 20 passes defensed in one season.

Hopefully, whoever it is that starts opposite Houston is much improved over what we have had there. Personally, I think it is Slay's job to lose, unless one of the draft picks from last year have improved over the offseason.

If I had to make a guess on what our starters will look like -- I think it will be Houston and Slay, with Bartell or Bentley at the nickel.

 

[tpaulus_2]

Imo, just because they drafted Slay doesn't mean that they aren't comfortable with the other CBs on the roster, just that Slay was the top-rated guy on their board so they made him the pick. He's a better talent than the 3 guys we took last year, but that doesn't reflect on them at all. Just like when we took Fairley a couple of years ago- we had 3 DTs that we liked on the roster, but Fairley slipped far enough that he was the top guy on the board, so we took him...

 

[tpaulus_2]

I agree about Bartell. He's been a decent starting CB in the NFL and has a very favorable size/speed combo. He's also a Detroit native, not that that means much, but he grew up a Lions fan and it's gotta give him some extra gas playing for the team he grew up a fan of.

I also think taking Poyer in the 7th would have been a good move...

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

The thing about Bartell that I don't like is that he 31 years old, had a fractured neck, and was cut by the Raiders after being injured most of last year....and prior to his injury he never really set the world on fire. If he starts or even plays nickle...that is an epic fail IMO.

 

[Coach_Ed_LPW]

Rotoworld called Bartell a "liability in coverage".

 

[jdwills126]

The Raiders had serious salary cap issues.

Bartell is a solid depth guy that could be a starter. How many waiver wire CBs have Mayhew picked up to help with holes.

I doubt Bartell is any worse than say Alonso Smith.

and I agree Poyer would have been a great late round guy but so would have D'arick Rogers and a couple of OLBs.

 

[tpaulus_2]

The thing about Bartell that I don't like is that he 31 years old, had a fractured neck, and was cut by the Raiders after being injured most of last year....and prior to his injury he never really set the world on fire. If he starts or even plays nickle...that is an epic fail IMO.

I think that's selling him short quite a lot:

The age is irrelevant- he's still young enough to be playing at a high level, CBs aren't like RBs who die off at 30. In fact, almost all of the other position groups play pretty well up to 34 or 35 ish... 30 is just the magic number for RBs, generally speaking. Now, we don't want to go building our secondary around a 31 year old CB, but, much like Burleson on the offense, he's a solid veteran who can still help the team while helping teach all the young bodies at the position.

As for the injuries, he was an effective starter up till the last two years, which he basically lost to injuries. He lost all of 2011 to that neck injury you referenced. Then Oakland signed him to be a stop-gap starter last year and he hurt his arm or shoulder (don't remember right off the top of my head) and by the time he was ready to play again Oakland had younger guys playing well and their season was already in the tank, so they cut him.

We were lucky to scoop him up, imo, because if he's fully healed then we got a starting-quality veteran CB for free. He's certainly not going to be the center-piece of our defensive backfield, but he's definitely good enough to help the secondary this year and maybe one or two more before his play starts to tail off.

With the 4 first and second year CBs we have on the roster it makes a lot of sense to me to keep a veteran like him aboard too, kind of as an insurance policy. I guess the way I look at it is that not everyone on the roster can be a star player, or even an up-and-coming young player. Sometimes you gotta fill spots with cheap, dependable, average veterans, and, imo, that's exactly what Bartell is- an average veteran CB...

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Imo, just because they drafted Slay doesn't mean that they aren't comfortable with the other CBs on the roster, just that Slay was the top-rated guy on their board so they made him the pick. He's a better talent than the 3 guys we took last year, but that doesn't reflect on them at all. Just like when we took Fairley a couple of years ago- we had 3 DTs that we liked on the roster, but Fairley slipped far enough that he was the top guy on the board, so we took him...

I agree he may have been the top rated guy on the Lions board, but I believe he was there because of how weak our CBs were outside of Chris Houston.

I don't think it was a coincidence the Lions drafted DE, CB, OL, DE, P, WR, Blocking TE, LB. It was the first year Detroit actually drafted needs. IMO, the only two picks the Lions made that can truly be considered BPA were Ansah and Riddick. Even the Ansah pick could be argued.

I believe Mayhew knows he is on shaky ground as the GM and if the Lions have another year like 2012, he could be looking for a new job. So he took a different route this year, as Detroit had many holes to fill, because of players leaving in free agency and draft picks not panning out from prior years.

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

Bartell is a solid depth guy that could be a starter. How many waiver wire CBs have Mayhew picked up to help with holes.

I doubt Bartell is any worse than say Alonso Smith.

and I agree Poyer would have been a great late round guy but so would have D'arick Rogers and a couple of OLBs.

I just think Bartell, if healthy, will fight for a starting job, as he the protypical CB Mayhew seems to love. He is a bigger CB who can play physical, help against the run and is really fast. Obviously the health part is the biggest issue with him, as he hasn't been healthy the last couple years.

As for how many CBs that Mayhew has brought in since he was the GM -- I put the list up back on CBS. I don't remember the exact number, but it was close to 40 CBs he has brought in to fill holes or add depth. That is crazy, since at the time of the list, he had only been with the Lions for 3.5-4 years. I'm sure it is close to 50 now, if you add in Lacey, Florence, the draft picks last year, Bartell and Slay.

And I agree wholeheartedly with Poyer. I was calling for his name in the 5th, 6th and 7th, as well as Da'Rick Rogers. I think either of those guys would have been unbelievable value picks that late. I guess the Lions front office felt differently though, as there was something they didn't like about either player.

 

[tpaulus_2]

That could well be the case, but I think we should also consider how many holes were on the team. With the exception of DT I can't think of another position group that didn't have a need on some level. Pretty much every pick we made filled a hole via attrition- there we gaping holes up and down the roster.

But- to give fuel to your side of the fire we seemingly avoided the three positions where we were best stocked heading into the draft: DT, QB and safety. We even traded back with Jesse Williams, a 1st or 2nd round DT on almost every site/list out there, right in our laps.

So who really knows how it went down. To me it looks like they built their draft board and either took positions off it all together, or diminished the value of others.

Like you said, he realizes his ass is on the line, so he can't afford to leave those holes empty this year...

 

[TrustMeIamRight]

That could well be the case, but I think we should also consider how many holes were on the team. With the exception of DT I can't think of another position group that didn't have a need on some level. Pretty much every pick we made filled a hole via attrition- there we gaping holes up and down the roster.

But- to give fuel to your side of the fire we seemingly avoided the three positions where we were best stocked heading into the draft: DT, QB and safety. We even traded back with Jesse Williams, a 1st or 2nd round DT on almost every site/list out there, right in our laps.

So who really knows how it went down. To me it looks like they built their draft board and either took positions off it all together, or diminished the value of others.

Like you said, he realizes his ass is on the line, so he can't afford to leave those holes empty this year...

Yeah -- no one really knows how it went down or what the Lions do in their draft room except the Lions front office.

Only reason I think this way is, like I said, Detroit filled a hole with pretty much every pick. I do agree with you -- the Lions had seemingly more holes to fill this year than any other, but they did pass up on some guys in the early rounds that in prior years, I don't think they would have.

2nd round -- they passed on MLB's Manti Te'o and Kevin Minter, who many had going in the 1st round, as well as OT Menelik Watson, who some say could turn out to be the best OL in the draft if he continues to progress. I know the Lions board is completely different than Combine grades, etc., but Slay graded out as the 11th best CB out of the combine.

3rd round -- they passed on Sio Moore, Keenan Allen, Terrance Williams, etc. to take Larry Warford. I just think OG was a bigger concern once they weren't able to get a OT they were comfortable with in the 1st 2 rounds. I think in prior years -- they would have taken one of the WRs before filling a hole on the OL and they passed on Sio Moore, as OG was more of a concern than OLB.

Of course -- all of this is nothing more than my thoughts. I actually like the way the Lions drafted in the first 4 rounds. I think Warford will really help out in the running game. I think Slay is an upgrade over what we have on the roster. I think Ansah and Taylor are athletic freaks, but both scare me, as they seem like boom or bust type players, but the upside in both picks is thru the roof. Obviously Ansah's upside is thru the roof. The Taylor pick scared me a bit, as his stats dropped each year he was at SC.

 

[gandydancer]

2nd round -- they passed on MLB's Manti Te'o and Kevin Minter, who many had going in the 1st round, as well as OT Menelik Watson, who some say could turn out to be the best OL in the draft if he continues to progress. I know the Lions board is completely different than Combine grades, etc., but Slay graded out as the 11th best CB out of the combine.

Of course -- all of this is nothing more than my thoughts. I actually like the way the Lions drafted in the first 4 rounds. I think Warford will really help out in the running game. I think Slay is an upgrade over what we have on the roster. I think Ansah and Taylor are athletic freaks, but both scare me, as they seem like boom or bust type players, but the upside in both picks is thru the roof. Obviously Ansah's upside is thru the roof. The Taylor pick scared me a bit, as his stats dropped each year he was at SC.

Manti had bad combine numbers. I truly could give two shits bout most numbers except bench press for certain players. Film does not lie!! One bad day of 40 time and suddenly this guy shoots up or down the draft boards.
Slay is way better than the 11th CB. To me the second level CB's were C hairs apart.
Ansah does not scare me at all. Did not want him,(Warmack) but am quickly loving the pick. His film shows how quickly the game is coming to him. He has adapted to being doubled. Could have been coaching, I feel it was him alone.
Now Taylor does scare me. As you stated his stats declined at SC while having studs oppisite of him. (Clowney) Taylor should always see one on one. With Suh, Fairley, Ansah grabbing most attention should help. Jason Jones could actually be beneficiary IMO starting at DE over Taylor.

I like the punter pick also. Looks on paper we have a defense capable of getting three and outs. So field position will be of key. Having a guy who actually can punt and not shank is huge.

Did not like not addressing OLB. After reading some post on here and being educated. Truly we do play in nickel and dime half the time. So we will see this CB stable being key more than OLB weakness.

 

[Thruthefog]

My favorite pick of the draft, based upon draft position, is Devin Taylor. The microscope will be on Ansah, but Taylor won't be chopped liver.

 

[jdwills126]

2nd round -- they passed on MLB's Manti Te'o and Kevin Minter, who many had going in the 1st round, as well as OT Menelik Watson, who some say could turn out to be the best OL in the draft if he continues to progress.

Thanks that reminds me. When the Lions passed on Watson I truly think they were smoke screening about a OT. If they thought they needed Joeckel, Fisher, or Johnson in the first they still would have wanted Watson in the second. IMO

Im still butt hurt over passing on Ryan Swope. But oh well.

 

[Quackerjacked]

Watching film of him really makes me like Taylor. Definitely needs to work on the technique and isn't elite off the ball, but the dude plays. In the Michigan game he had a lot of really good hustle plays. He almost had four sacks, so at least that many hurries, not sure if any more would be considered hurries. Also in that Michigan game you saw the TE or extra blocker go to his side more often than you did the other side.

 

[Quackerjacked]

Biggest weakness in his game is when they run right at him, but I still like what I see.