Detroit Lions: Would you trade offseasons with the Cleveland Browns?

Greed is not good?

Early on in the draft process, cornerback Greedy Williams was a popular choice to be the Lions first round pick at No. 8 overall. The Jim Thorpe award finalist out of LSU was the consensus best shutdown defensive back in the draft, so the possibility of pairing him with All-Pro Darius Slay was tempting at the time. As we know now, T.J. Hockenson was Bob Quinn’s man with the Lions’ first pick, fair enough.

When Williams was still available in the next round though, Quinn said no thanks to Greedy once again. Cleveland scooped him up three picks later.

Consolation Prize: “Tackling machine” Jahlani Tavai, projected by most as a 4th or 5th round pick.

 Good Move?: There’s a reason Greedy slipped from a top 5 prospect in December to a mid-second rounder on draft day. I don’t know what that reason is, and have seen anything from tackling ability, whispers about his work ethic/focus, a low Wonderlic score, and an undisclosed injury cited as potential causes for the slide.

All of those things could be true, or none of them could be, but the point is that the gifted athlete raised enough red flags for nearly every team except the Browns to pass on him at least once.

Keep up with the Browns!: Cleveland sportswriters gave the Browns grades of either A or A+ for picking Greedy Williams and Mel Kiper’s biggest critique of their draft class was how they used that second round pick. If Greedy ends up being the shutdown corner that many project he has the talent for, that pick is going to look pretty stupid, especially if Tavai is only as good as his scouting report indicates.