I'm not sure there is a price we could pay to move up to 2 or 3 that would upset me if it meant we were drafting Young or Stroud to complete this offseason. That is where I am at.
Top takeaways for me after FA are; 1) QB is now right there with any need on the roster, and 2) with no glaring needs and plenty of extra picks this year and next, a trade up in the draft feels inevitable. If there's a QB they like, they'd be crazy not to make a move.
I'm not sure this staff would trade up and invest so much to draft a QB they haven't met with. Maybe I'm way overthinking this, but this staff seems big on personality and fit, and especially at QB, I can't see them drafting a guy top 2 rds, let alone top 10 AND trading up for them without meeting them in person beforehand. So far our only QB meetings have been with Richardson and O'Connell. Our assistant GM also knows Hooker and the two were spotted talking at length at senior bowl. So I'm thinking our backup QB options are Richardson at 6 (or move up to 5 or 4 to get him), Hooker in rd 2/3 or O'Connell at end of draft. Now late rd picks different so maybe they'll snag someone else then.
The Lions have legitimately aced free agency, and didn’t give out any deals longer than three years. I love competency.
I can talk myself into a QB but Will Anderson and Hutchinson coming off the Edge would certainly be sweet.
Surely another team would have given CJGJ that offer. None of our other FA were crazy overpays, especially way the contracts were structured. You think players are buying into the Campbell stuff, or they are just jumping on a team they feel is on the up? Or am I off and we are paying more than other teams? Just odd to see desirable FA come here not on ridiculous huge contracts
I'm going to be a little annoyed if this ends up stretching significant money into future years instead of just releasing him and saving a similar amount of $$ now.
So basically they added $2M to the bonus number and I think added a void year, which means next year after his deal is up he'll count $3.5M against the cap in 24. Not that bad, but still think it would have been better to just waive him or Harris to save that money now and next year.
everything about me would suggest I should be a salary cap nerd with my own spreadsheets and shit but I have absolutely zero understanding of how any of that works. I think I probably just decided to play Call of Duty on some random day 15 years ago instead of looking into this and that has probably saved me thousands of hours of math checking all these salary cap tweets.
It’s pretty crazy to think about how balanced this roster is right now. Not that there isn’t room for improvement but I think you can say we have at least competent NFL starters at every position. Only position you can question is second DT and maybe TE. Even those people played pretty well the second half of the season. Even have reasonable depth at a lot of positions as well
None of them outside Aidan going to block Anderson or Tyree. It's too bad Carter has imploded because he would have been a great fit. Still would guess we go DL, but QB is an option
It’s not that they would block either guy, but they seem committed to the guys they have, even taking into account the restructures. I agree if Anderson fell they would take him no questions asked but that seems impossible at this point. I think they might really be gearing up for a QB, especially when you consider how nice it wild be to have a rookie QB contract on the books as guys like ASB, Sewell, etc get new deals.
Considering we haven't cut Vaitai yet wonder if similar restructuring/pay reduction with his contract is coming. Think they'd like to keep him because odds are one or more of our G going to be hurt
It's not that hard to type in the URL of the websites that do this kind of stuff and spend 15 seconds finding out what they say.
I don't think Carter is off the board. The fit makes too much sense. And while I don't think the volume of edge guys is blocking Anderson or Wilson, I think it says something about how they view the players at the position and means that we're not targeting the position unless Holmes feels the player on the board is too good to pass up.
I would trade 6 for a crappy team's 1st next year if at all possible, rather than try to run the rookie contract game with Richardson, who will have 3 years to start on a rookie deal assuming he needs to sit behind Goff for 2 seasons. Otherwise, take a DE or another CB and go. The moves have really put them into a good position to take Richardson or trade back.
6 is way too high for an unknown next year. Maybe if they traded back and then did that, but I don’t see that happening
I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever been this excited for the Lions pre-draft in my life. They draft feels like icing at this point and based on history of the last 2 years, we’ll knock it out of the park
if the Lions can manage to string together another 6 or 8 months where it seems like they know what they are doing, I just might find the time to do that.
Kiper new mock has us going Carter and Mayer. Carter is exactly what this defense needs, so I'm torn on all the recent stuff with him. Some big red flags but may still be worth gamble. Do not want Mayer at 18
I love Mayer but I don’t think I’d want him there either. He would add tremendous value to the team from both blocking and another viable target. If we re-sign Chark and draft Mayer, we would be absurdly hard to defend, though. I just mainly want defense in the first round
The more I dig into Carter the more worries I have about him as a player. His flashes are amazing, but he only played 392 snaps last season. For comparison, Mazi Smith from Michigan, at about 40 lbs heavier, played 575 snaps. Mazi is a freak, but Carter only played 396 snaps as a Sophmore. Again, both years Carter flashed, and it’s not exactly a small sample size, but it also raises red flags. For context, Calijah Kancey logged 454 snaps at 280 lbs. I get Georgia was deep, but did Carter play fewer snaps because of the loaded DL room, or because he struggles to stay in shape? I wouldn’t have even given this another thought if it weren’t for the fact he completely gassed himself at his Pro Day. If Carter can’t be an every down guy, you can’t take him at six, and that’s not accounting for the off field shit.
Everyone remembers him murdering Bama (justifiably so) but there are a lot of red flags as I dig more into it. I was looking on Twitter and I actually saw this just now as well: This guy has pretty good draft analytics. It’s just one voice but I get his perspective.
And….once again….clearly didn’t have a great support system or guidance to get his ass into better shape for his pro day to help alleviate concerns. if we’re drafting you that high, we’re going to speak to the people around you. Side note, and it’s likely just a coach defending his guy, but Kirby mentioned he was playing through injuries this year.
I don’t doubt that and obviously the other talent on the DL makes rotations easier. But he played 390 or so snaps each of the last two seasons so it’s hard to say what he’s built to handle. Alim McNeil played almost 800 snaps last year in three more games (at a much heavier weight). I’d except Carter to play 600-700 minimum and I’m not sure we have any evidence he’s capable.
That’s a bit concerning. I haven’t looked it up but did Georgia defense have less non garbage time snaps? Hopefully it’s not as bad on % basis
Hock really only exploded for one game when all of our WRs were hurt. Wasn’t a factor when we were healthyish (and that’s way before Jamo was ready)
Risdon loves making fun of the established draft guys because his ego thinks he's better than most of them. Which is fine, but if you're going to call out Kiper or others for what they do with the Lions, maybe don't have a story up a few days before that where you mock the Lions taking Hendon Hooker with the 18th pick.
I tend to agree, but it's hard for me to ignore the messenger in situations and just let comments stand for themselves.
Do not take a TE in the top 20. It doesn't pan out. And the Lions have taken 3 tight ends with a top 20 pick since 2009. It's a fucking bad idea.
DeAndre Hopkins is available for trade and likely would cost a late 2 or a 3. Would anyone be for trading the Vikings pick for Hopkins? I get we have ASB and Williams, but if we are going for it, Hopkins would make sense.
The more I think about this, and the more I look at the potential board waiting for at 18, the more I kind of think TE is on the table. They didn't want to pay Hockenson $13-15M per year long term. And that makes sense. But they're going to have to have that conversation about a TE and his second contract no matter where they pick them. And I don't think it prohibits them from taking one at 18 instead of 48 or 55 if they think the guy at 18 is the best player on the board. I also think part of the Hockenson problem in terms of how they viewed him was specific to Hockenson as opposed to "we don't like any TEs".
Kiper put Adebawore to Cowboys at #26 in his latest mock. Said that he could go as high as #10 to Eagles and mentioned Detroit at #18 if they don't take Carter. Pouncey has had been pushing the Lions interest in him for a while now. Wonder if they have him higher on their board than Kancey.
Since we went out and addressed the DB needs through FA, I'm team trade up for Anderson and take BPA the rest of the way
I think if you're the GM and you've got a first-round grade on a TE, you better sit down with your head coach and OC and make them explain exactly how they're going to use him. I think a lot of the issue with the highly-drafted TEs not seeing a second contract is because they put up pedestrian numbers over four years because there was no plan on how to involve them in the game plan.
I think if you're a GM and you have a system in place where the BPA in the top 20 might be TE you should be fired.