Erasing Ebron: Let’s re-draft the Detroit Lions 2014 NFL Draft picks

Detroit Lions’ re-draft round 4

Round four, where the picks should start being better because you’re picking from a better pool of talent that should be contributors, is where Mayhew’s draft really starts getting bad. Mayhew had two picks in this round, too. Nevin Lawson and Larry Webster were selected with picks 133 and 136, late in the fourth stanza.

Lawson, a cornerback, played but was sporadic, to say the least. Although he would make the occasional great play he would often make an equally bad one in close proximity. He did start 54 games but was making the same mistakes and being beaten equally easy from start to finish during his time in the Motor City. He has remained in the league as a backup, where he isn’t nearly as bad of an option.

Webster, a defensive end, saw action in just one game and exited the NFL in 2016. As noted prior, the defensive line did need help but Webster offered none in his injury-shortened career.  Both Lawson and Webster were taken with compensatory selections because the Detroit Lions traded up in round two, costing themselves their second, fourth, and a seventh-round pick that went to the Seattle Seahawks.

The better ideas here are tough in the sense that there aren’t many picks between the compensatory selections and the Round 5 pick, 21 picks later.  We went DE, WR, OC at picks in rounds 7, 6, and 5 respectively, going from back to front. Our pick here is Ricardo Allen, a strong safety, who has played a lot of football for the Atlanta Falcons, starting 64 games through 2019.

Allen is not an imposing figure at 5-9, 187-pounds but possesses good speed and would have been considerably faster than James Ihedigbo who was the Lions starter at the time. Plus, obviously, he would’ve taken over there when Ihedigbo left after an injury-shortened and ineffective 2015 campaign. Allen ran a 4.51-second dash time at his pro day and would’ve given the Lions aging secondary, other than Darius Slay at the time, to cover better.

With the other pick, there are some good linemen in this portion of the draft but with the Detroit Lions need at linebacker, we’ll use the other pick on Telvin Smith an outside linebacker who earned a Pro Bowl bid in 2017 for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The 6-3, 218-pound Smith had 4.52-second sprint speed coming out of Florida State and was a mainstay on the Jag’s defense prior to abruptly taking a leave of absence from football. He had more than 100 tackles per season and numerous, tackles-for-loss (52), interceptions (9), and sacks(7.5).