The Detroit Lions need to avoid desperation draft choices

With plenty of needs to address, the Detroit Lions need to avoid making desperate decisions in the draft.

The Detroit Lions are a team with many needs. In the second year of their current rebuild under the guidance of general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, it isn’t far-fetched to say  they could go any direction with the second overall pick in the draft.

Michigan edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson has been a fan favorite and the seemingly unanimous pick in Lions Nation for Detroit to take at No 2. But the idea Hutchinson could go No. 1 to Jacksonville had opened up plenty of possibilities.

What Holmes does with the second pick will be one of the keys to the Lions’ rebuild. With so many needs, this selection has to be used wisely. Not that Detroit has the luxury of wasting any of its picks, but the second overall pick has to yield a high-impact player.

Campbell has been quoted as saying he wants a player who can be an immediate starter with the No. 2 pick.

Detroit Lions need to avoid being desperate in the draft

This is where the constant quarterback talk becomes hard to understand. There is absolutely no passer in this draft that’s worthy of the number two selection. Last year, the top four selections were quarterbacks. All were rated high enough to justify where they were drafted.

A year later there has been harsh judgment about these passers. Outside of the San Francisco 49ers, those signal callers went to poor teams and were forced onto the field with little or no help around them. It is still far too early to call any of them a success or a failure. Time and more talent surrounding them will ultimately tell the tale.

What Holmes does will make a major impact on the franchise. Adding some talented young defenders in the draft will give the Lions their best chance to take a big step forward. If Holmes does find the quarterback of the future he believes in, then the opportunity to sit and learn for a year behind Jared Goff would be invaluable.

A quarterback may be in play for the Lions with the final pick of the first round, or the 34th overall pick early in the second. But taking one second overall reeks of desperation, and in Detroit that needs to be avoided at all costs.