Detroit Lions draft: Bob Quinn’s O-line profile, best values
Detroit Lions depth and profile
The Detroit Lions depth chart projects to look like this without any draft haul to factor in (projected starters in bold):
Tackles: Decker, Vaitai, Crosby, Benenoch, Skipper
Guards: Dahl, Wiggins, Aboushi, Garnett
Centers: Ragnow, Benzschawel
Other than the tackle and center starters, there isn’t much guaranteed there. Joshua Garnett, a former first-rounder at guard, and Caleb Benenoch, a former fifth-round tackle prospect, are flyer-signings and wildcards; Skipper hasn’t ever made the initial 53-man roster, nor has Benzschawel.
The Lions are also well below the average spending for offensive linemen, NFL average $37.6 million, with a $27.5 million cap number for the entire unit according to the Spotrac website. That ranks 27th in the NFL, while the team managed to rank 17th in yards last year with Glasgow and Wagner and the injuries to Stafford and Kerryon Johnson, most notably.
The Spotrac website does not have a 2020 salary for Kenny Wiggins factored in, which has been between the $2M-$3M range the past couple of years but is currently undisclosed.
Detroit Lions profile explanation
We at Kick In The Crotch Weekly crunched some numbers so that you don’t have to. Specifically, we recorded and compared the physical attributes and combine or pro day test numbers that Bob Quinn has drafted or signed with the Detroit Lions. These numbers give us a peek into Quinn’s draft evaluation process and what he’s looked for historically.
From these numbers, we can also whittle down some of the 2020 draft prospects, remembering that no one measure is the only one that counts. Prospects are also evaluated in large part by how they play within their system and against their level of competition, too. We’ll discuss that after we explain how we got our short-list of prospects.
After researching the combine and pro day numbers available, we then sorted and color-coded results as a way to help identify better candidates by benchmarks identified by players currently on the roster and therefore likely to make the team; after all, we don’t want a guy who won’t make it past roster cuts. Essentially, there were two colors used, one to represent desired measures and another for acceptable, minimum draft requirements.
From there we can say that a prospect has the physical tools and requisite athleticism to be on Quinn’s radar if they meet the minimums or better in their tests. The other thing to remember is that not all prospects performed all tests, so we may have to say that some prospects partially pass our metrics.
We used height, weight, hand, arm, short shuttle, vertical jump, broad jump, bench press, 3-cone, and sprint times to examine the NFL Combine participants. We used data from the Draft Scout website to gather combine data and profile data of current players.
The last thing that we’re going to use to limit the number of prospects we identify is to assume that the Detroit Lions do not use either of their first two draft picks on an offensive lineman. That means no tackle, guard, or center prospect that would go before the Lions pick 35 overall.
Why? It makes sense for a few reasons, one, you probably know the top players who will be selected. Secondly, those players get most of the press already and we want to discuss more under-the-radar players for most Detroit Lions fans. Thirdly, it is probably more realistic that Quinn waits to select a prospect due to some of his draft tendencies.