The Detroit Lions

The BRAND NEW LIONS were a site to see this past season and unfortunately fell just short of a super bowl appearance. The Lions had the pass rush and solid linebackers but it was the secondary that was lacking all year long really. Let’s see how they addressed that through the first four picks of the draft and what the future holds for the Lions.

Trading up to pick 24 the Lions grabbed the biggest need with Terrion Arnold (CB). Arnold had an incredible year for Alabama and in my opinion could have been the first corner off the board and no one would have batted an eye. Arnold posted a low 50.7 passer rating when targeted by opposing QB’s. Arnold will be a starter come week 1 of the season and he gives the defense the best shot alongside Carlton Davis to lockdown the outside and let the pass-rush eat.

Number 61 was another emphasis on the secondary with Ennis Rakestraw Jr (CB). Rakestraw only allowed a touchdown one time in his nine games played last season but the knock is he was only targeted 28 times (8% of his coverage snaps) which could be spun good or bad. This means he has not seen a lot of balls come his way and may need to be molded by fire in the NFL but this means that the QB saw it would not be good to throw Ennis’ way. Either way this is a pick to fill roles in the secondary and he will see his fair share of snaps.

Pick 126 Giovanni Manu (OT) is more of a development project for the Lions. What works for Manu is he is very raw with good upside and gets to learn from a very good o-line group and probably won’t be asked to do much in-game stuff. With his size and basketball history Manu shows very good athletic ability with great power. It’ll be nice to see the outcome on Manu once he does get a shot.

The 132nd pick is a wild one in Sione Vaki (RB, DB). Vaki was a weapon to say the least, playing RB and DB for Utah. This is something that is not found a lot anymore and I do not think anyone does that effectively for a job besides Travis Hunter. Vaki is a part of the Ben Johnson Offense now so I am sure he is going to be worked into packages but his role now will most likely be special teams play.

The Lions have very good coaching and great players so this draft was to get them over that hump and it may have done that. But, I do think there was opportunity left on the table over some trade ups and development projects. With that I will give the Lions a B- on this year’s draft. The future for the Lions is bright and expectations should stay high with a superbowl in mind. I do see them being better and making a run again to the superbowl.