The NFL Draft has come and gone, and of course, everyone is putting in their two cents worth on what teams had the best, and worst, picks. That’s especially true for the Detroit Lions draft.
The draft is a funny thing, because sometimes, the top picks in the first round can get injured or just not pan out and those in the last rounds can be surprising superstars. Look at Tom Brady, for example. Brady was the 199th pick in the sixth round by the New England Patriots. We all know what happened. During his lengthy 23-season career in the NFL, Brady won a record seven Super Bowl titles, three NFL MVP awards and a record five Super Bowl MVPs.
So, how did this year’s picks shape up? Not surprisingly, there is some controversy. The Lions selected running back Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick. The decision to take their precious top-12 pick and use it on a running back has gotten a lot of criticism.
Detroit Lions Draft Criticism
Mike Sando of The Athletic caught up with some NFL executives to talk about each team’s draft class. When Detroit came up, some of the executives expressed confusion about the team’s picks. They asked, what could justify those choices? Especially since the running back position has become devalued in the NFL.
“Using a first-round pick to swap out a non-premium position, that was a weird one,” one executive said, via The Athletic. “How great does Gibbs have to be to justify it?”
Another executive added, “I think it’s really high to take Gibbs (No. 12), and it was high to take Campbell (No. 18), and you paid those positions in free agency with almost identical three-year, $18 million contracts. That said, Gibbs is dynamic, and that offensive coordinator (Ben Johnson) is going to get the most out of him. They are going to be hard to defend.”
Meanwhile, former Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford finally has some backup quarterbacks with the Rams.