Detroit Lions: What can be learned from drafting Teez Tabor?

Corner the market

These RAS scores are not the only measure of ability, and Bob Quinn’s opinions about the Combine or Pro Days as just one workout are well-founded. No one thing, production in college, one workout, one report, should be taken as the definitive take on a player.

Judging a prospect takes looking at all of the information, weighing it with the situation, the quality of your roster, the system you run, the abilities of your coaches, and mentor options. Quinn says that he spent more time evaluating Tabor than any player that he’s ever looked at in his career.

Fans like careful consideration of the athletes that will determine the fate of their team. Tabor isn’t in trouble off of the field. He isn’t a bad seed. Awuzie, Witherspoon, Lewis, and others had better physical tools, while still possessing many of the good attributes that Tabor had.

Maybe Quinn just overthought the decision? Maybe Tabor’s shortcomings seemed like they were things that could be hidden in the team’s scheme? Maybe Tabor’s known ability was thought to be a safer commodity than the greater upside of better athletes?

We’d all like to give Quinn some benefit of the doubt here. No one is perfect, after all.

Perhaps if you feel the need to look that hard there are better options?

Quinn seems like a very measured, methodic kind of person. That deliberate approach can often be useful.

On the other hand, if you don’t see what you really want or need to see, why keep looking?

Tabor seems like he’s doing everything that he can to get better but it just doesn’t seem to be working. On occasion, he’s flashed the ability to stop a big receiver in the red zone or make a play here and there but sure looks like a bubble player for next year.

Can you afford to take chances high in the draft on players with marginal physical talent or other red flags?

Fixing the problem

Several high profile cornerbacks that could declare within the next month have been linked to the Detroit Lions due to their obvious need. Andraez “Greedy” Williams,  Byron Murphy, DeAndre Baker, Julian Love, Michael Jackson are all names that will likely go early if they were to all declare for the draft.

Three of those cornerbacks are ranked in the top 13 prospects by NFL Draft Scout’s Rob Rang, which bodes well for the Lions if Quinn decides to address the secondary in Round 1; Williams, Murphy, and Baker are all potential first-round draftees based on information to date.

KCW predicts Quinn will select multiple cornerbacks in the 2019 draft to upgrade the depth and make sure that they find a better #2. Let’s hope that Bob Quinn doesn’t make the same mistake twice.

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