NFL Draft Wrap Up

Consensus on the Lions' draft is they did good, not great. They got a guy who's a bit of a boom-or-bust project at DE, then they went for CB with one of the fastest 40-times but has some health concerns. They followed up in the 3rd round by grabbing OG Larry Warford, who I actually liked better than OT Menelik Watson (the guy Kiper wanted them to take in the 2nd). They finished off the draft by taking another tall DE, a punter (a PUNTER??), a WR, RB, TE, and an ILB. Interestingly, they signed an undrafted free agent that I think is a threat to make the team, maybe even crack the rotation if Reiff or Hilliard prove ineffective - OT LaAdrian Waddle. He's a BIG guy (6'6", 332 lbs) and you know he can pass block, playing at Texas Tech. My guess is he makes the team (WAY too thin at OT right now), and eventually gets a starting spot in a year or 2.

The hope is that the Lions drafted 3 players who will give an immediate impact. Maybe less immediate with Ansah, he may not be ready to take the majority of the snaps at the beginning of the year. My guess is they bring Ansah on slowly, and by about halfway through the year he's taking a majority of the snaps at one of the DE spots. Darius Slay (great name) SHOULD push for the #2 CB spot if healthy enough to play. It's definitely a concern to me that the Lions spent ANOTHER high draft pick on a guy with injury concerns, the hope is obviously that it won't come back to bite them (like it did the last 12 times). 

ESPN's Jeffri Chadiha thinks Ansah is a good fit next to Suh & Fairley, and Kevin Seifert noted at the end of this blog post that the Lions clearly focused on their weak pass defense over filling gaps in their offensive line. Here's Mel Kiper's grades & analysis on the Lions' draft: