Totally Clueless Lions Draft Preview
By: Mike Valenti
Simply put anyone who tells you they know who the Lions will select is a liar. I don't mean that in a mean or disrespectful way, I just got to be honest.
These teams make a living lying to everyone this time of year. Lie to beat writers. Lie to ESPN. Lie to fans. It's all one huge game of poker and no team aside from the Colts and maybe Redskins is going to show their respective hand. Sorry.
I'll also go ahead and tell you that when a team is picking somewhere like No.23 very few people have accurately scouted these players. While most fans will obsess on certain guys they are told they want, you should simply try to focus on what position you want rather than what person.
That brings us to what I would like the Lions to do in this draft. I'll stick to the 1st Round pick at No.23.
1. Trade Down. I'm not kidding. Anything the Lions could do to pick up and extra 2nd-round or 3rd round selection would be fantastic.
2. Draft the best available corner. This is a bit complex but the Lions do have options depending on how gutsy they want to be. The obvious choices would be Stephon Gilmore or Dre Kirkpatrick. Simple enough. The problem? Both could easily be gone. My solution? Trade down if possible and select Janoris Jenkins. Roll the dice and grab what could be the best corner in this thing.
3. Draft the best available pure pass rusher. Who you may ask? Could be literally one of a dozen guys. All depends on how the Lions view them fitting in their unique line scheme. Couple guys I like are Whitney Mercilus and Courtney Upshaw. My favorite guy will be long gone in Mr. Melvin Ingram.
4. My least favorite option…draft an Offensive Lineman. This presents a tough choice for Lions as the best guy on board may well be a guard in Cordy Glenn. I can't take a guard here, not with the Lions bigger needs at Tackle. Several tackles like Riley Reiff and Jonathan Martin could be sitting here as well.
