An anonymous executive has a quote that perfectly reflects the Detroit Lions 2023 draft approach.
It’s not breaking news at this point, but the Detroit Lions ignored the perception of positional value by taking running back Jahmyr Gibbs and linebacker Jack Campbell in the first round of this year’s draft.
Taking a running back and an off-ball linebacker in the first round is something out of 1993, and the Lions drew plenty of ire for doing it in the moment. But Lions general manager Brad Holmes has remained steadfast that it’s about adding good football players who fit, above practically all else. Time will tell if the approach to this year’s first round pays off.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler has a new piece filled with post-draft intel for each team (subscription required). It has seemed the Lions’ draft approach has not drawn much critique from inside league circles, for whatever that’s worth.
Fowler’s piece suggests rival executives like what Holmes and Dan Campbell did.
Anonymous exec drops money quote encompassing Detroit Lions 2023 draft approach
Fowler passed along this quote from an anonymous NFC executive regarding the Lions.
"They said the hell with value and just took good football players. That guy [Jahmyr Gibbs] is a player. When they tee it up on Sunday, I don’t think anyone will care where he was taken. And those players very much fit Dan Campbell’s toughness approach.”"
The general perception is teams were higher on Gibbs than the media or draft analysts were. The Lions apparently had indications teams just below them after No. 12 overall would have taken him, and it became clearer and clearer as the draft neared that they really liked him.
“To hell with (positional) value and just take good football players.”
That modified version of the quote Fowler shared, or something close to it, might be on a wall somewhere in the draft room at the Lions’ facility in Allen Park. It surely was the mindset in the first round of the 2023 draft.