The Detroit Lions have created the perfect draft scenario
By Robert Jones
Despite the myriad of reactions from the media around the league, the Lions have had an extremely solid offseason so far. They have addressed needs and have also created depth. While a couple of those additions may have been a little pricey, the truth of the matter is that they were worth it.
Everyone wants cap flexibility and the Lions are no different, but they entered free agency with money to spend and spent wisely overall and still have plenty of financial flexibility left.
It has been a win/win scenario so far with the best yet to come; the freedom to do whatever they want to with their first pick in the draft.
That is blessing most teams don’t get. So now Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia can powwow over those options and be prepared to do just about anything. Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to accurately guess what they will do when the draft opens. Under these conditions, it makes it even murkier.
The first possibility is moving down. When I heard a report of the Lions possibly trading up to get a quarterback, I almost injured myself laughing. For Bob Quinn who considers draft picks to be like gold, the only scenario that would motivate him to move up in the first round would be to acquire a day one starter. Which would not be a quarterback.
Yet moving down and being able to acquire extra picks is a great way to have extra ammunition not only for selecting players, but it gives them more flexibility if they decide to trade up in another round to get a player of interest.
Trading down would create even more options for the Lions and allow them to stock up on more prospects that they value and believe will become contributors. It also makes for better value if they were to reach for a player they really like, but wouldn’t be a good ‘value’ pick at number eight.
The options that come from moving down just open the door even more for Bob Quinn to work a little draft day magic, but if they stick to the conventional route that could also be very good.