2023 NFL Draft As-It-Happens

[Jason_R]

1 hour ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Is Gibbs that much better than other pass catching backs like Tyjae Spears? Did we just pull a Clyde Edwards-Helaire when we could have just waited and got Isaiah Pacheco later on in the draft? RBs drafted later than Gibbs, as well as guys they could have drafted like Jalen Carter/Tyree Wilson/Christian Gonzalez are who I'm going to compare him to, not Bijan Robinson.

Yes. His fastest carry last year was clocked at 0.7 mph faster than the fastest carry in the NFL. 

[Shinzaki]

This isnt a very good draft...when the talent is thin and there isn't a lot of difference between mid 1st and 2nd rd talents, you're going to see a lot of perceived reaches

[Cruzer1]

30 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

 

We've needed a LB for a while. This looks pretty good.

His ras is better than Urlacher's.

[RatkoVarda]

Porter, Torrence, Benton is probably too much too ask.

Swift + a 5th = what? probably not much; maybe just keep him?

[RandyMarsh]

To add to Cardinal's post about value I got a kick out of Kiper giving the Falcons **** for drafting Bijan at 8 instead of in the 20s like where his "value" is.

If you want to question the pick due other reasons that fine but this argument will never make sense to me. NFL teams don't get to pick and choose where they want to pick at and where they pick said players at. 

It's not like the Falcons can say "Hey Roger give us Bijan at pick 25", all they can do is pick the player highest on their board at the slot they have. 

Yes you could say you could trade back but A you need to find that team to trade with and B. there isn't a guarantee that guy will be there at that pick. 

Bottom line the draft is about getting the best players for your organization as possible, if you have to reach a little or get low "value" so be it, better that than missing out on the players you want. 

Edited April 28, 2023 by RandyMarsh

[AlaskanTigersFan]

I really don't think Gibbs is a RB anyways. He's more of an athlete if that makes sense. It looks like he'll be doing some WR and catching plays on the ends as well. 

[RandyMarsh]

So long as Jamo doesnt get hurt or in trouble again it should be really fun to watch him and Gibbs together out there. Talk about explosiveness.

[TP_Fan]

24 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

I really don't think Gibbs is a RB anyways. He's more of an athlete if that makes sense. It looks like he'll be doing some WR and catching plays on the ends as well. 

This is the way I see it too. Watching bama last year he was the most electric player on the field.  He will be spilt out, taking handoffs and can return kicks. This was a good pick, don’t let the value nerds say otherwise. 

[TP_Fan]

 

[TP_Fan]

 

[RedRamage]

9 hours ago, Motown Bombers said:

I kind of hope they trade up or something. Don't really want three 2nd round picks. 

 

Holmes is determined to end the 2nd round curse.  He drafted two second rounders on the first day, and now had three second rounders the next day.  Surely one of five will be a success... right?... right?

[TP_Fan]

This is why I don’t think Gibbs is a reach. People were looking for the best athletes and playmakers in this draft. Mock draft warriors aren’t inside the GM offices and seeing the big boards. I suspect there were a few teams that had Gibbs rated as high and he would have gone likely before 18. The 20s are unpredictable and Campbell was clearly the best LB in this draft.  The lions got who they feel is the best RB/pass catcher and LB in this draft, both position of need. 

[TP_Fan]

Just now, RedRamage said:

Holmes is determined to end the 2nd round curse.  He drafted two second rounders on the first day, and now had three second rounders the next day.  Surely one of five will be a success... right?... right?

They weren’t second rounders.  Mel killer don’t know ****.

the same guys trashing the lions are the same guys who thought st brown was the 17th best receiver. 

[RedRamage]

9 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Right, but the point with RB specifically, like the TE position, is top backs can be taken all over the draft. Again, I don't hate the player at all. I like Gibbs and wanted him at a later point in the draft. I just didn't want him over Tyree Wilson, Nolan Smith, Myles Murphy, Calijah Kancey, Christian Gonzalez or a defensive player on a team that had a league-worst defense last year.

But I've heard much the same thing about nearly every position in this draft. It's deep for TE, it's deep for CB, it's deep for LB. I'm not claiming to be an expert here cause I'm only relaying what I've heard other people say.  But it draft really feels like a lot of players all sorta evaluated to similar grades.  Outside of just a very few elite guys, every one seems to be grade similarly.

[RedRamage]

9 hours ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Do you at all fear that Holmes ignoring positional value is him trying to be a little bit of the smartest guy in the room with his draft strategy?

Not in this draft because I don't think the Lions have any one hole that needs to be filled or the season will be a bust.

[Motor City Sonics]

3 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

I really don't think Gibbs is a RB anyways. He's more of an athlete if that makes sense. It looks like he'll be doing some WR and catching plays on the ends as well. 

I think a lot us around here have talked about how awesome it would be to have a Deebo Samuel.   Well, that's what Gibbs is going to be for us.  He's a Swiss Army Athlete.     Teams better pay attention to him...........wait, they'd better pay attention to ASB too.........  The Lions will have two offensive weapons that can be used a number of ways. 

Plus, this town is going to love Jack Campbell.  He the middle linebacker we've been missing since Stephen Boyd

Offensive Line -is one of the best

Quarterback - Starter is very good and they are likely to upgrade the backup (Bridgwater or Wentz)

Running Backs - a Deep and versatile group behind a great line,

Wide Receivers - Good group, hurt by Jameson's stupidity, but they can still get quality in the draft in the 2nd, 3rd or even 5th round (or package picks to get one) and there are still a couple of vets to deepen the group.   Remember, the passing game was working before Jameson last year.    I am a big fan of Cedric Tillman

Tight Ends - No stars here but they played a really key role after Hock was traded (post Hoc).  I am pretty sure they'll take a TE somewhere, but honestly, they don't need to take one.  Wright, Mitchell and Zylstra were fine

Defensive Line -  Could always use some improvement but it was getting better at the end of the season and they are getting Levi back.   They did draft him in the 2nd round and thought highly of him.  He wasn't 100% healthy in his rookie year.  Maybe he's really good and we just haven't had a chance to see him.    They get Charles Harris back.  The Okwaras are both healthy right now.  

Secondary - a weak point last year,  completely addressed by acquiring 3 really good free agents and will be getting Tracy Walker back.  If this group stays healthy, they have rotational depth now too.    And they can still add a decent CB in Round 2

Linebackers - This has been a weak point, but they do have okay players here.  Anzalone was a much better player after Aubrey Pleasant was let go and the secondary started adhering to Glenn's scheme.  Rodrigo was pretty good last year, but he has his weaknesses.  James Houston is a QB missile specialist.  They got Reeves-Maybin back (who I thought was pretty good in his last Lions season) and now they add Jack Campbell.   He's a really good run-stopper and he can cover tight ends, one of our weaknesses.   They have solid rotational depth at linebacker, which is not really a position that people think of as important, but Campbell's going to be really good.   

It's a long-winded point that the Lions didn't have a weak group coming into last night except for Linebackers and they improved that.   Wide Receiver might be slightly lacking in depth right now, but they can improve that on Day 2 or Day 3.    The Lions had a great Free Agent offseason and didn't need to fill major holes. 

The biggest objective in this draft was building depth.   I think they did that with both picks last night and will continue the next two days.   They simply didn't think the D-Line guys outside of Will Anderson were worth it at 6.   Now, lets go get a QB with some experience so the team does not fall apart if Goff gets hurt.      Gibbs is going to be exciting as hell next year and I don't care about RB short shelf life.  This team is going for it NOW.   Honestly, they are the #3 favorite to win the NFC behind Philly and San Francisco.      Gibbs is the move when you want to win NOW. 

 

 

[Shinzaki]

I was just going to make the Deebo  comparison...Gibbs isn't just a RB.

Re Carter....Philly makes more sense for him than Detroit.  There's already several of his teammates in Philly...they know him and can help bring him along.  That may have given them the reason to not sweat the character issue as much as the Lions obviously did

[AlaskanTigersFan]

I need to learn more about the league rather than just knowing the Lions lol.... I know Deebo's name but didn't realize he was such a catalyst for his team. I thought he was just a "good" player not even a great one. Sounds like he's more important than I thought. If thats the comparison for Gibbs, then I'll be more than happy with this pick. 

[CMRivdogs]

Just as an aside re Gibbs, something Brad said during what I saw of his press conference last night makes me feel that Swift is not long on roster. He said Swift is on the roster "for now". His injury history and a couple moments in the Hard Knocks series seem to indicate they are not pleased with his progress in choosing routes in the line. 

I'm probably wrong but I like the idea of having a duel threat back.

 

Edited April 28, 2023 by CMRivdogs

[RandyMarsh]

Holmes said something about feeling like there were 5 true difference makers in this draft and he felt Gibbs was one of them. So my theory is that he had Anderson, Witherspoon, Bijan and Gibbs as 4 of them.(dont know the 5th perhaps it may have even been one of the qbs)

So when the Seahawks took Witherspoon leaving the 2 rbs left as the difference makers he decided to take a chance and trade back figuring 1 of them would be there which of course he was. 

[RatkoVarda]

Holmes will probably surprise us, but 3 picks tonight, looking at 1) Secondary (CB or S) Porter or Branch would be nice based on talent alone; actually would not object to drafting both 2) DL (DT or NT) even just a 2-down guy, they don't really have a huge guy outside of Alim 3) OG (Torrence or Avila) Torrence seems to be a monster in the run game, but Avila better as pass protector with C experience; neither helps at OT 4) Pass catcher (WR/TE) Gibbs has this partially covered so might wait until Sat

[AlaskanTigersFan]

If Swift is worth a late round, why not package him with a pick to move up? They could make things interesting.

[buddha]

14 minutes ago, Shinzaki said:

I was just going to make the Deebo  comparison...Gibbs isn't just a RB.

Re Carter....Philly makes more sense for him than Detroit.  There's already several of his teammates in Philly...they know him and can help bring him along.  That may have given them the reason to not sweat the character issue as much as the Lions obviously did

deebo is a LOT bigger than gibbs.  maybe in the way they use him?

i see gibbs as mccaffery lite.

[KL2]

15 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

If Swift is worth a late round, why not package him with a pick to move up? They could make things interesting.

I would imagine swift has little to no value

[RatkoVarda]

13 minutes ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

If Swift is worth a late round, why not package him with a pick to move up? They could make things interesting.

i think everyone knows that Swift is leaving, either before or after this season, maybe just keep him as depth rather than get another 5th/6th for him