There’s been some draft steam tying the Detroit Lions to Liberty quarterback Malik Willis, but Michael Robinson doesn’t see a good fit.
Need or desperation is a terrible evaluator. There is a segment of Detroit Lions who don’t want to see them take any quarterback in the 2022 draft, let alone Malik Willis with the second overall pick. Some of that is scars of history (Andre Ware, Joey Harrington), but a rookie quarterback rushed into action as the team is currently constructed may be set up to fail.
The Lions, for better or worse, have Jared Goff to hold down the fort under center for one more year. That would theoretically afford them the ability to draft a quarterback this year, and allow him to sit for a year before taking over in 2023.
If the Lions win enough games next season, they won’t be in good position to draft one of the currently highly-touted quarterbacks in the 2023 draft class. So the time to take a shot on a quarterback of the future might be now, however it looks, with three of the first 34 picks in the upcoming draft as capital.
Michael Robinson thinks the Lions would derail the start of Malik Willis’ career
Michael Robinson is back in the analyst chair this week on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football.” On Monday, during the “We In Or We Out?” segment, a topic was “Lions should take Malik Willis with the 2nd overall pick.”
"Lions should take Malik Willis with the 2nd overall pick."
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) April 11, 2022
We In 👍 or We Out 👎 pic.twitter.com/04sX6puub0
Kyle Brandt started with a thumbs down to signify he’s out on Willis to the Lions at No. 2. Robinson went a little further when giving his answer.
"I love Malik Willis. I think he is a tremendous talent. Detroit please don’t draft him. It’s a bad fit for Malik,” “I want to see this kid succeed. I want to see him win. Honestly, when you look at the Detroit Lions roster, maybe they’re in a space where they need a veteran. Maybe they need a guy who has seen it. Not saying Jared Goff is the answer, be-all, end-all of offense but he has seen some stuff in this league. Maybe they can get by with him another year. I don’t want Malik Willis to have a bad start to his NFL career.”"
Brandt made the fair point about the Lions having two first-round picks next year too, thanks to the Matthew Stafford trade. So there’s no rush to draft a quarterback this year if they don’t love someone.
The biggest question, to be answered in just over two weeks now, is if the Lions love any of the quarterbacks in this year’s class. Maybe they love more than one, however dependent on the pick they’re making. And if they do absolutely love one quarterback more than the others in this draft, is it Willis–or someone else?