Detroit Lions: Receiver is a need, but not at seventh overall
By Robert Jones
The Detroit Lions are preparing themselves for the draft. However, Brad Holmes needs to think long and hard before taking a receiver at number seven.
We are in the final few weeks before the 2021 NFL draft commences on Thursday, April 29th. It is merely a stone’s throw away at this point. While much can be debated between now and the draft, the biggest thing fans need to remember is that this is the starting point of the Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell era.
Not every need will be filled this fall. When the Lions kick off the 2021 season, they will still be a team in transition. A team with many holes to fill.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Heck, I don’t think the toga was even perfected in a day. This is a rebuild. It will take time. Even if the Lions surprise everyone this fall and look sorta like an NFL team and even win five or six games, the goal is much higher than that and it will take time.
That being said what the Lions do with their selections in the draft will be very important. From their first to their last pick every single one has to count if possible. The more building blocks that Brad Holmes can find in the draft, the closer the Lions will be to having a foundation upon which they will attempt to build a championship team.
Now we all know the hopeless history of the Detroit Lions. It reads somewhat like a dysfunctional manual that was written by the Three Stooges. Sort of like when Matt Millen drafted a receiver with Detroit’s first pick in the draft three straight years. If the NFL gave out awards for slapstick comedy, then the Motor City cats would have more than the rest of the league combined.
But this is a new era. Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell have brought hope to all the poor lost souls who live and die with the Honolulu Blue and Silver. Now all they must do is choose wisely, develop those players and repeat for a couple more seasons to build a contender.
That being said the whole building through the draft part of the equation will start with what the Lions do with the seventh overall selection. A pick not to be made hastily.