Draft Recap

[schles192]

Not a college guy but this is what I see from our picks and how they fit:

Ziggy Ansah DE - Raw and inexperienced, freakish talent with outstanding measurables. Stout against the run with length to shed blockers and quick in pursuit. Not the fastest off the line but that may have been scheme (read then react), with us he will be all pass rush then play the run. For an inexperienced player he has great instincts and a motor that reminds me of KVB. When he doesn't get to the QB he gets in passing lanes and gets his hands up batting balls. Plug and play starter.

Darius Slay CB - Fast, good size with ball skills, coming off a knee injury that shouldn't be a long term concern. Plug and play starter.

Larry Warford G - Good size with skill and experience, not a pulling guard but should keep the pocket clean and allow Stafford to step up giving that extra second that was missing last year. Road grader type, should be able to average more than one yard running right this year. Plug and play starter.

Devin Taylor DE - great measurables, lots of experience. Not a starter but with the way we rotate the DL he should have an immediate impact and develop into a starter down the road.

Sam Martin P - Strong leg with ability to directional kick. Hopefully we never use him but he is an upgrade over what we had (not saying much). Immediate impact flipping field position.

Corey Fuller WR - Speed guy, not the best of hands or route runner. A project WR that probably won’t start but will come in and be a deep threat keeping safeties honest opening up the underneath for TE's/RB's. Limited impact but should see the field in a limited role.

Theo Riddick RB - 3rd down RB that can play the slot if needed. Not fast but not exactly slow, needs to develop and learn to pick up blitz's to see playing time. If he sees the field that means something bad happened. Project player not much of an immediate impact.

Michael Williams TE - Blocking TE that may eat his way to the OL (Jason Smith?). Good hands but zero speed. Impact in the passing game will be minimal, more of a short yardage/red zone receiver. Fills the Will Heller role, not an every down TE but will have an impact day 1 with his blocking.

Brandon Hepburn LB - ST project. Impact minimal if at all.

All in all we got 4 starters (DE, CB, G, P) 3 role players (WR, DE, TE) and 2 projects (RB, LB). Great draft considering the amount of holes we had to fill.

 

[inkfreq]

I'm sure some will disagree, but I would give that draft a solid B- grade.

I think Devin Taylor could really shine if the coaches can put a foot in his ass and get him to flash consistently. The guy at times looks like a top 5 pick. And then he looks like ass.

Get him to give 100% effort, and I think we have a star in the making.

 

[wheels002]

I am trying to like the Ansah pick but I am still fighting it. We needed a punter. I actually wish we would grab a kicker to. Riddick will be our return guy. He cant be worse than "Fair Catch" Logan. Williams could help in running and max protect situations where we were using Reif. I love the Warford pick. The Slay pick could be real good if he can be healthy. It's not our worst draft by any means. We actually drafted need.

 

[inkfreq]

I love the Ansah pick. His comparable is Jean-Pierre Paul. If he can produce anywhere near that level, this will be a smash mouth take heads D-Line this year.

He can do what Avril did, but I think he can be a lot better than Avril. He's faster off the edge, he's stronger, he just needs experience.

Devin Taylor is a kid I want to watch though. He will either be boom or bust. The tag on him is that he plays a little lazy and takes plays off. That was the tag on Fairley too.

This D-Line has a habit of getting the best out of a guy, because no one wants to be the pussy on this line.

 

[elrod817]

I love the Ansah pick. His comparable is Jean-Pierre Paul. If he can produce anywhere near that level, this will be a smash mouth take heads D-Line this year.

He can do what Avril did, but I think he can be a lot better than Avril. He's faster off the edge, he's stronger, he just needs experience.

Devin Taylor is a kid I want to watch though. He will either be boom or bust. The tag on him is that he plays a little lazy and takes plays off. That was the tag on Fairley too.

This D-Line has a habit of getting the best out of a guy, because no one wants to be the pussy on this line.

This. I think Ziggy was the right choice and will pay dividends starting....NOW.

 

[schles192]

All I know of Ansah is what people have written and an 11 min youtube vid. He looks the part but how will that translate to the PRO's? With Suh, Fairley, Taylor, Ansah I don't know how QB's will throw over this DL. Gonna be a lot of batted balls which hopefully turn into TO's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvySheD7bpc

 

[kingofdetroit57]

I'd probably go with a B-/C+ grade too. I hated the Ansah pick because of his complete lack of experience. I would have rather taken an offensive lineman who isn't gonna be flashy, but can be a stud starter for the next decade. If Ansah is boom or bust, so is this draft. I'm alright with the Slay pick, assuming he's healthy. We need corner help, and he's pretty solid and has great speed. I loved the Warford pick. I've got a soft spot for guards though. The rest of the picks are alright... they fit needs, and the players all look to be decent. There were a few different ways we could/should have gone, but as long as we're filling needs and adding starters and depth, I can't bitch too much. I hope we work some magic and get a couple good UDFAs, maybe add a piece here or there before camp, and have a respectable year. We're probably another good draft or two away from contending for anything.

 

[wheels002]

Who ever we picked at 5 we would have been ripped for. the Ansah pick because of his inexperience. If we picked Milliner they would have brought up all his injuries. If we took a guard well you cant take a guard that high. If we took Fluker we took him to early. Austin would have had us laughed at because we took another WR. We were in a no win situation without a player anyone wanted to deal up for.

 

[kingofdetroit57]

Agreed. It was my worst case scenario having all three OTs off the board and now trade down options. A DE made sense, I'm just spooked by the parallels to Alama-Francis.

 

[mhughes0021]

Tale of 2 drafts for me. Rds 1-3 we got quality players to cover immediate needs. 4-7 was a bit of a head scratcher for me. The trade down still makes no sense. Then after you get the extra picks you start picking a bunch of rbs and wrs? Would have liked to see our glaring holes/needs continue to be addressed in those rounds. Competition for palmer, a cb like poyer that was sliding but would have been great value, Cornelious Washington who right now is just as good as James Jones will probably ever be. Theo riddick and fuller wont be competing for anything but depth or ST.

Ive stated numerous times how i would have went milliner in rd 1 then DE in rd 2 but that was basically due to the boom bust factor of ansah and that i felt the rd 2 cbs were more of a drop off in talent than the rd 2 DEs. But that is really just splitting hairs at that point. Both rd 1 and 2 picks were solid picks that should contribute this year. To be honest we havent had that around here in years so you cant complain. Throw them to the fire and plug them in now.....if we start this sit them and let them grow from the bench crap ill be pissed.

Our best pick was probably our rd 3 pick when we got Warford. From a value, need and productivity standpoint he will probably be our best pick as far as a "grade" goes.

Ansah B+
Slay B+
Warford A
Taylor C+
Martin B-
Fuller D
Riddick C-
Williams C
Hepburn C

Overall B

 

[kingofdetroit57]

I was just looking at some of the draft recap and grades. I think we might have had the worst draft in our division. :/

Bears: Long, Bostic, Greene, Mills, Washington, Wilson... they reached with the first two, but this is still a very solid draft.

Packers: Jones, Lacy, Bakhtiari, Tretter, Franklin, Hyde, Boyd, Palmer, Johnson, Dorsey, Barrington... no real homeruns here, but they got several starters on the lines, and got a RB.

Vikings: Floyd, Rhodes, Patterson, Hodges, Locke, Baca, Mauti, Bond, Dawkins... they killed it.

 

[biggunsbob]

Well it is the Ford's... The Car people who have one playoff win in the last billion years... Monster told me the draft was good so i will trust him and the board but i just don't see the wow factor in these picks.. I never liked taking a punter or kicker in the draft... You can always find those players without drafting them.. (didn't we do that already for the kicker spot LOL)

 

[af1991]

Solid C....but didn't need to be that low.

Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda? I know hind sight is 20/20, but we were in the driver's seat at the top of every round 1-3. Same holes filled.

Rd 1 (OG): Warmack/Cooper
Rd 2 (DE): Carradine/Hunt/Moore
Rd 3 (CB): Honey Badger/Blide Wreh-Wilson

I would be far more comfortable that we have 3 definite starters with fewer concers.

For rounds 4-7, these are just personal preferences staying consistent with the positions the Lions decided to pursue and assuming no trade in the 5th (i.e. move down in the 5th and pick up another 6th).

Rd 4 (DE): Devin Taylor (No heartache with this pick at this point)
Rd 5 (RB): Stephan Taylor
Rd 6 (WR): Ryan Swope
Rd 7 (CB): Jordan Poyer (a big, slow TE? - take a shot at a HUGE position of need)
Rd 7 (P): Brad Wing (might as well not let anyone lure him in free agency)

 

[mhughes0021]

Solid C....but didn't need to be that low.

Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda? I know hind sight is 20/20, but we were in the driver's seat at the top of every round 1-3. Same holes filled.

Rd 1 (OG): Warmack/Cooper
Rd 2 (DE): Carradine/Hunt/Moore
Rd 3 (CB): Honey Badger/Blide Wreh-Wilson

I would be far more comfortable that we have 3 definite starters with fewer concers.

For rounds 4-7, these are just personal preferences staying consistent with the positions the Lions decided to pursue and assuming no trade in the 5th (i.e. move down in the 5th and pick up another 6th).

Rd 4 (DE): Devin Taylor (No heartache with this pick at this point)
Rd 5 (RB): Stephan Taylor
Rd 6 (WR): Ryan Swope
Rd 7 (CB): Jordan Poyer (a big, slow TE? - take a shot at a HUGE position of need)
Rd 7 (P): Brad Wing (might as well not let anyone lure him in free agency)

since you brought up hindsight.....here is a list of people we could have had instead of tahir "muthafuckin" whitehead:

Alex Okafor
Jelani Jenkins
Barrett Jones
Khaseem Greene
Dion Sims
Brian Schwenke
Gerald Hodges
Khaled Holmes
William Gholsten
Quinton Patton


aka...mayhew is the second comming of matt millen.

 

[Mitchrapp]

since you brought up hindsight.....here is a list of people we could have had instead of tahir "muthafuckin" whitehead:

Alex Okafor
Jelani Jenkins
Barrett Jones
Khaseem Greene
Dion Sims
Brian Schwenke
Gerald Hodges
Khaled Holmes
William Gholsten
Quinton Patton


aka...mayhew is the second comming of matt millen.

Of course they might all suck..

 

[mhughes0021]

Of course they might all suck..

you cant suck worse than not doing anything all year after your GM wasted a pick and traded up for you.

 

[tonyballs]

you cant suck worse than not doing anything all year after your GM wasted a pick and traded up for you.

And that's only happened to Mayhew before? Dude, give it a fn rest...

 

[inkfreq]

Durant had a great season. Tulloch is our defensive signal caller and the linchpin of our LBs. Levy, the team loves... I dunno.

Where exactly was Tahir Whitehead, a raw 4th round pick, going to come in an dominate?

He was a rookie. He rode the pine. He made no impact at all. Exactly what was expected of him.

This year he will be given a chance to compete with Palmer for the open LB spot. How about we let the guy compete before we write him off man? He had ZERO chance last year, it was all about learning. Let's see what he's learned.

 

[cheeno]

Durant had a great season. Tulloch is our defensive signal caller and the linchpin of our LBs. Levy, the team loves... I dunno.

Where exactly was Tahir Whitehead, a raw 4th round pick, going to come in an dominate?

He was a rookie. He rode the pine. He made no impact at all. Exactly what was expected of him.

This year he will be given a chance to compete with Palmer for the open LB spot. How about we let the guy compete before we write him off man? He had ZERO chance last year, it was all about learning. Let's see what he's learned.

I don't think you can dispute anything here but I agree with Hughes we lost a lot of value there. I never understood this future trade having less value than pick this year, 4 is a 4 for me.

 

[mhughes0021]

I don't think you can dispute anything here but I agree with Hughes we lost a lot of value there. I never understood this future trade having less value than pick this year, 4 is a 4 for me.

unless your mayhew ofcourse....where a 5 turns into a late 6th.