The Detroit Lions use the eighth overall pick to select …
By Robert Jones
The 2019 NFL draft will start tonight and the Detroit Lions have a chance to get an impact player with the eighth overall pick. So who will it be?
To quote the opening to the old Bugs Bunny show, ‘Overture, turn on the lights. This is it, the night of nights…’
For Detroit Lions’ fans, this is indeed the night of nights. It’s like Christmas in April as fans of the Honolulu Blue and Silver hope to land an impact player that will finally lead them to the Super Bowl. Unfortunately, every draft for the last 60 years has failed to produce the results we’ve all been so desperately seeking.
Yet even after a disappointing season last year, the optimism among Lions’ fans is still fairly high and the interest in what general manager Bob Quinn will do with the number eight overall pick is anxiously being awaited.
When head coach Matt Patricia was hired he declared that the Lions would be built from the ball out and in Bob Quinn’s three seasons at the helm he hasn’t strayed from that very philosophy, even if Patricia didn’t join him here in Detroit until last year.
So while no one knows for sure what Bob Quinn will do tonight, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to guess that he will stay true to form and select a player that will spend much of their time on the line of scrimmage.
Which brings us to the list of possibilities; defensive lineman, offensive lineman, tight end or linebacker would all fit that description.
Some of those choices are widely cheered as being very popular among the fans. The others have their backers but still leave many uneasy. The biggest example of that uneasy feeling is the possibility of the Lions selecting former Iowa star tight end T.J. Hockenson.
There are Lions’ fans that have flashbacks of Eric Ebron putting them in a cold sweat at the very real thought that Hockenson could very well be coming to Detroit tonight. Yet he is a quality player at a position of need.
So having set the table, it’s time to examine the key question; who will the Lions select tonight?