Lions 2023 Draft Class

[mannc]

14 hours ago, Dubie54 said:

What a difference maker this draft class was for the Lions:

 

Round 1, Pick 12 — RB Jahmyr Gibbs

Round 1, Pick 18 — LB Jack Campbell

Round 2, Pick 34 overall — TE Sam LaPorta

Round 2, Pick 45 overall — DB Brian Branch

 

The rest of their draft was not much but these 4 guys were amazing, particularly Gibbs and LaPorta. I think LaPorta could become another Kelce type dominant TE for years.

 

It sure would be amazing if we could find 4 guys who could step right in at Saftey, WR, LB and DT draft this year. 

 

 

I’m sure we could if we had four picks in the top 45 of the draft. Lions used all those picks on non-premium positions…not a good long term strategy.

[mannc]

11 hours ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

I started a thread after the draft saying that it was crazy people were hating on the Lions draft and that they probably had the best draft of anyone.  All these dumb bad draft grades literally because they took Gibbs at 12 instead of 18 when they had no idea if he would even last to 18.  Yes you can make a case that you don't need to take a RB early, or even that its best not to...BUT that does NOT mean its ALWAYS wrong.  

 

They got the 2nd best RB, top LB, 2nd best TE, and top S in the draft with their first 4 picks.  It was a bounty then, and it proved to be a bounty on the field.  I need to go find that thread where so many argued with me that Gibbs pick was terrible and their overall draft was a fail.  Like most this board was slamming their draft 

 

It is why I always say, the only people who care about "draft slot" are fans...in the NFL, it doesn't matter where you are selected, it just matters what you do on the field.  When the Lions finished day 2 I was looking at the number 1 or 2 prospect at 4 positions of need for the Lions in 2 rounds...thats a hell of a draft haul and why I felt then that their draft was one of the best, if not the best, back then.  

 

I loved LaPorta too, its why I waited on a TE and took him in 4 of my 5 leagues...one league a Lions fan snaked him a couple rounds earlier than he had been going so I missed out on him lol.  

 

Yet most of TSW was slamming the Lions draft last year after they made those 4 picks

It was not a great draft.  It’s unlikely that the Lions will exercise fifth year options on either of their two first round picks, they have no corners and a QB who is upgradable.  

[Mr. WEO]

12 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Yep. You just don't need to spend a first round pick to do it that way when you have needs at premium spots. 

 

typically true, yes.  But the Lions in particular have filled those needs with excellent drafting for a few years now.

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

Think of the crap detroit took on draft day for those very picks.

 

[Spiderweb]

19 hours ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Eh - thats probably a stretch.  Kittle and Kelce definitely above.  Andrews missed time but I'd be hard pressed to put laporta ahead of him.  Probably firmly in the next tier with hockenson, Engram, Njoku.  I expect Kincaid to join them next year 🙂

 

Impressive dude though, lots of YAC too.

 

Hate a back in the first.  I get wanting a pass catching back to work in there, but I'd always look at corners and d-linemen before id do a running back.  Campbell also felt like a reach.  

Laporta is the younger, future ahead of him Kelsey, who will begin his decline in a year or two.

[GunnerBill]

18 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

typically true, yes.  But the Lions in particular have filled those needs with excellent drafting for a few years now.

 

Except they have a gaping hole at corner.

[Buffalo03]

19 hours ago, Dubie54 said:

What a difference maker this draft class was for the Lions:

 

Round 1, Pick 12 — RB Jahmyr Gibbs

Round 1, Pick 18 — LB Jack Campbell

Round 2, Pick 34 overall — TE Sam LaPorta

Round 2, Pick 45 overall — DB Brian Branch

 

The rest of their draft was not much but these 4 guys were amazing, particularly Gibbs and LaPorta. I think LaPorta could become another Kelce type dominant TE for years.

 

It sure would be amazing if we could find 4 guys who could step right in at Saftey, WR, LB and DT draft this year. 

 

 

But but but.....RB in the first round

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

1 hour ago, Spiderweb said:

Laporta is the younger, future ahead of him Kelsey, who will begin his decline in a year or two.

 

Or is it Kincaid?

[NeverOutNick]

20 hours ago, ngbills said:

Not just 2023 draft. Look at 2021 and 2022. Brad Holmes has done an excellent job. In  these three years they added:

 

QB - Goff (Trade)

RB - Gibbs (2023 Draft)

RB - Montgomery (2023 Free Agent)

WR - Williams (2022 Draft)

WR - St Brown (2021 Draft)

TE - LaPorta (2023 Draft)

OL - Sewell (2021 Draft)

 

DL - Hutchinson (2022 Draft)

DL - McNeil (2021 Draft)

LB - Campbell (2023 Draft)

LB - Anzalone (2021 Free Agent)

LB - Barnes (2021 Draft)

DB - Branch (2023 Draft)

DB - Joseph (2022 Draft)

DB - Sutton (2023 Free Agent)

 

Plus a bunch of other guys that see the field all brought in the past couple seasons. 

 

They’re a great organization top to bottom now which is crazy after how bad they’ve been. They hit on a couple corners in the draft and get Hutchinson some help on the line and they’ll be in the nfc championship game again next year barring injuries with them keeping Johnson in place 

[GunnerBill]

1 hour ago, Spiderweb said:

Laporta is the younger, future ahead of him Kelsey, who will begin his decline in a year or two.

 

The guy LaPorta reminds me most of is like prime Greg Olsen. Some people might think that is an insult but Olsen in the prime of his career with the Panthers was elite. He had three thousand yard seasons in a row. Don't get me wrong he will blow early career Greg Olsen's numbers out of the water, he was considered a bit of a bust with the Bears but in playing style that is who I see. 

[Alphadawg7]

1 hour ago, Bleeding Bills Blue said:

 

Well Running backs are good when the line in front of them is good in most cases.  They have a good to great offensive line.  Is it worth spending those resources within the first round on a running back?  It's only really worth it if he's an all-pro.  And if you planned to time-share the guy then it makes even less sense.

 

Campbell starting for the lions not very good defense isn't an accolade to me necessarily.  It just means he started.  Bernard didn't play his rookie year, did that make him a bad player?  

 

I'll reiterate that i think they will both be fine pros, i just disagree with using 2 first round picks on a RB and off-ball linebacker. 

 

I get that, but if they are BPA on their board when they pick and its a position of need, its not incorrect to draft them.  And I am not condemning Simpson and Sanders, but they have yet to show anything while Campbell started all season for the #2 seed and played in the NFCCG and was actually a good part of their defense as he continued to improve off early season struggles, which is generally the journey of a rookie in the first place, to improve as the season progresses.  

 

Gibbs put up 13 TD'S and almost 1700 total yards for the Lions in part time duty, that is all pro level play from Gibbs.  And to get 13 TD's while sharing the backfield with the short yardage TD monster Montgomery means he made a lot of those from a decent distance from the endzone.  

 

And also, you bring up OL...I mean if you got a good OL then might as well take advantage of that and get a RB who capitalize and make the defense pay wouldn't you say?  Hence his 13 TD's despite having another TD vulture/machine in Montgomery to share the ball with.  

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

29 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

I get that, but if they are BPA on their board when they pick and its a position of need, its not incorrect to draft them.  And I am not condemning Simpson and Sanders, but they have yet to show anything while Campbell started all season for the #2 seed and played in the NFCCG and was actually a good part of their defense as he continued to improve off early season struggles, which is generally the journey of a rookie in the first place, to improve as the season progresses.  

 

Gibbs put up 13 TD'S and almost 1700 total yards for the Lions in part time duty, that is all pro level play from Gibbs.  And to get 13 TD's while sharing the backfield with the short yardage TD monster Montgomery means he made a lot of those from a decent distance from the endzone.  

 

And also, you bring up OL...I mean if you got a good OL then might as well take advantage of that and get a RB who capitalize and make the defense pay wouldn't you say?  Hence his 13 TD's despite having another TD vulture/machine in Montgomery to share the ball with.  

 

Again - i just hate backs in the first.  Usage doesn't dictate success.  I think the only way to think about it is - is this the guy that gets me over the top in a single game?  When CMC was rumored to buffalo that was my thought process.  The extra .3 YPC over a season is negligible in yards.  But against SF can he get me the big play to get us the W?  That's the only way to look at it.  Didn't work out year 1 but they get him for 4 more so that has to be the future thought process.  

 

And when 1 of 3 equally-ish ranked LBs goes in the first and the other 2 go in the 3rd, it does feel a bit like a reach.  You try to avoid reaches by trading down to accumulate additional picks.  Going forward they likely get 1 pick in the first 50, and it'll be later than 18.  Its tougher to find a WR (less of a priority if williams works out), a DE/DT, a CB, etc. when you're picking later in the draft.  

[nedboy7]

Imagine this board if we picked a RB at #12?  

[Mr. WEO]

3 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

 

Except they have a gaping hole at corner.

 

they can remedy that this spring. interestingly, only 1 CB went in the 1st round last year.

 

Lions have RB, WR, TE on rookie contracts still and will resign their franchise QB this offseason.

[GunnerBill]

2 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

they can remedy that this spring. interestingly, only 1 CB went in the 1st round last year.

 

Lions have RB, WR, TE on rookie contracts still and will resign their franchise QB this offseason.

 

No they didn't. Witherspoon, Gonzalez, Forbes and Banks all went in the 1st. Joey Porter Jnr should have and went pick 33. 

[Mr. WEO]

10 minutes ago, GunnerBill said:

 

No they didn't. Witherspoon, Gonzalez, Forbes and Banks all went in the 1st. Joey Porter Jnr should have and went pick 33. 

 

oops i missed that. Witherspoon was already gone.  Gonzalez was not much of a factor in NE. Forbes looks solid.  Porter in retrospect was the pick of the litter but no team though so on draft day.

 

Lions did pick up a solid Safety in the 2nd in Branch.

[GunnerBill]

23 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

oops i missed that. Witherspoon was already gone.  Gonzalez was not much of a factor in NE. Forbes looks solid.  Porter in retrospect was the pick of the litter but no team though so on draft day.

 

Lions did pick up a solid Safety in the 2nd in Branch.

 

Gonzalez was fantastic the first month of the year. He tore his shoulder in about week 5 and was done for the year, but he looked an absolute stud out there. Porter has been excellent. Forbes struggled early, played a bit better late. His main issue is he needs to add bulk. But I had Witherspoon, Gonzalez and Porter all as excellent plug and play immediate impact starters. They were the clear top 3 to me. I'd have happily picked any of them. 

 

EDIT: I loved Branch as well. I only had 11 first round grades last year, and two of them lasted to day 2 - Joey Porter and Brian Branch. Think it is safe to say in re-draft both would be slam dunk first rounders. 

Edited January 31 by GunnerBill

[mannc]

57 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

Imagine this board if we picked a RB at #12?  

Lot of anger, and rightly so.

[HomeTeam]

They have drafted well but it's not fair to compare them with the Bills. They (along with the Jets) have had the luxury of having multiple picks early in drafts. 

[FilthyBeast]

Amazing draft indeed.

 

Brad Holmes might very well be the best GM in the NFL right after Brett Veach in KC.

[CookieG]

The Lions did what was right for the Lions.

 

They followed the old Bill Walsh maxim in drafting.."I don't want to hear where you have the guy slotted, I want to know how he helps our team".

 

They already built their Oline into a very good one.  They wanted a RB who could turn a 5 yard gain into a 20 or 30 yard gain; They got that.

They knew they couldn't overhaul their entire defense in one season or one draft so they concentrated on their run D. They went from 29th in run D in 2002 to 2nd in 2023;

They got an early start in building their defensive secondary;

They absolutely nailed their choice in a TE.

 

The results aren't even arguable.  This is a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in forever, 2 years ago they won 3 games.

 

This year, they were within a whisker and a 2nd half meltdown of making it to the dance.  Few expected them to win their division..much less be in the NFC championship game.

 

Damned, there are about 25 teams that can be criticized for their draft choices...the Lions aren't one of them.  Rather than worry about whether they can afford Gibbs 5 or 6 years  from now...maybe they should pay attention to what the Lions got right...because they got an awful lot right...

 

I can guarantee that other GMs are going to revisiting the Lions draft history for the past few years, to figure out how they did it.

 

 

 

 

[GunnerBill]

2 hours ago, CookieG said:

The Lions did what was right for the Lions.

 

They followed the old Bill Walsh maxim in drafting.."I don't want to hear where you have the guy slotted, I want to know how he helps our team".

 

They already built their Oline into a very good one.  They wanted a RB who could turn a 5 yard gain into a 20 or 30 yard gain; They got that.

They knew they couldn't overhaul their entire defense in one season or one draft so they concentrated on their run D. They went from 29th in run D in 2002 to 2nd in 2023;

They got an early start in building their defensive secondary;

They absolutely nailed their choice in a TE.

 

The results aren't even arguable.  This is a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in forever, 2 years ago they won 3 games.

 

This year, they were within a whisker and a 2nd half meltdown of making it to the dance.  Few expected them to win their division..much less be in the NFC championship game.

 

Damned, there are about 25 teams that can be criticized for their draft choices...the Lions aren't one of them.  Rather than worry about whether they can afford Gibbs 5 or 6 years  from now...maybe they should pay attention to what the Lions got right...because they got an awful lot right...

 

I can guarantee that other GMs are going to revisiting the Lions draft history for the past few years, to figure out how they did it.

 

 

 

 

 

What would have been better for the Lions is drafting a stud corner with one of those first two picks.

 

I have LOVED their draft work in 2021 and 2022 and I loved their second round in 2023. But a running back and a 1980s linebacker with two top 20 picks is bad draft strategy.

Edited February 1 by GunnerBill

[FireChans]

On 1/30/2024 at 11:47 AM, MJS said:

They had a great draft. And they proved all the "draft gurus" who hated their draft wrong. Good for them.

I’m not sure they did. Gibbs obviously had a great year, but trading up for a top 12 pick is about value, not having one good rookie season. 

[FireChans]

2 hours ago, CookieG said:

The Lions did what was right for the Lions.

 

They followed the old Bill Walsh maxim in drafting.."I don't want to hear where you have the guy slotted, I want to know how he helps our team".

 

They already built their Oline into a very good one.  They wanted a RB who could turn a 5 yard gain into a 20 or 30 yard gain; They got that.

They knew they couldn't overhaul their entire defense in one season or one draft so they concentrated on their run D. They went from 29th in run D in 2002 to 2nd in 2023;

They got an early start in building their defensive secondary;

They absolutely nailed their choice in a TE.

 

The results aren't even arguable.  This is a team that hasn't been in the playoffs in forever, 2 years ago they won 3 games.

 

This year, they were within a whisker and a 2nd half meltdown of making it to the dance.  Few expected them to win their division..much less be in the NFC championship game.

 

Damned, there are about 25 teams that can be criticized for their draft choices...the Lions aren't one of them.  Rather than worry about whether they can afford Gibbs 5 or 6 years  from now...maybe they should pay attention to what the Lions got right...because they got an awful lot right...

 

I can guarantee that other GMs are going to revisiting the Lions draft history for the past few years, to figure out how they did it.

 

 

 

 

If the Lions miss the playoffs next year because they have zero DB talent, will we revise this take?

 

I get that long term thinking isn’t sexy in the NFL. But James Cook had a better yards/touch in the NFL than Gibbs did. And James Cook was an end of the second pick while they traded up for Gibbs to #12.

It’s just bad strategy. It doesn’t mean the player isn’t good. I love Gibbs, he has tons of pop and is fun to watch. 

KC picked CEH at the end of the first as a luxury pick in a move that was pretty roundly criticized. They won the Super Bowl two years later, and are back in another one. It was still the wrong pick from a strategy perspective.

[OldTimer1960]

On 1/30/2024 at 12:11 PM, Dubie54 said:

What a difference maker this draft class was for the Lions:

 

Round 1, Pick 12 — RB Jahmyr Gibbs

Round 1, Pick 18 — LB Jack Campbell

Round 2, Pick 34 overall — TE Sam LaPorta

Round 2, Pick 45 overall — DB Brian Branch

 

The rest of their draft was not much but these 4 guys were amazing, particularly Gibbs and LaPorta. I think LaPorta could become another Kelce type dominant TE for years.

 

It sure would be amazing if we could find 4 guys who could step right in at Saftey, WR, LB and DT draft this year. 

 

 

Those 4 picks occurred significantly before the Bills’ 2nd pick.  Not really a realistic expectation for the Bills to hit like that.

[TBBills Fan]

On 1/30/2024 at 12:43 PM, ngbills said:

Not just 2023 draft. Look at 2021 and 2022. Brad Holmes has done an excellent job. In  these three years they added:

 

QB - Goff (Trade)

RB - Gibbs (2023 Draft)

RB - Montgomery (2023 Free Agent)

WR - Williams (2022 Draft)

WR - St Brown (2021 Draft)

TE - LaPorta (2023 Draft)

OL - Sewell (2021 Draft)

 

DL - Hutchinson (2022 Draft)

DL - McNeil (2021 Draft)

LB - Campbell (2023 Draft)

LB - Anzalone (2021 Free Agent)

LB - Barnes (2021 Draft)

DB - Branch (2023 Draft)

DB - Joseph (2022 Draft)

DB - Sutton (2023 Free Agent)

 

Plus a bunch of other guys that see the field all brought in the past couple seasons. 

 

 

Is that 15 of 22 starters damn nn

[Flipnmi]

On 1/30/2024 at 12:19 PM, Billl said:

La Porta is already the second or third best TE in the league.  Great pick.

Not sure about that, but La Porta did have a really nice year.  I really liked him last year and was hoping we could get him in the 2nd round. That said, his skill set is more redundant to Knox's, so at this point, I believe Kincaid gives us more diversity at the position and I also believe Dalton will prove to be the better of 2 very good players in the long run.