Saul Young / USA TODAY NETWORK
Detroit’s whole picture comes into focus, and Will Levis FINALLY gets drafted.
The Lions have had one of the strangest, most nonsensical drafts in recent memory — but when Friday came to a close they found a way to knock it out of the park. As scattershot and random as the first round was for Detroit, they put the pedal down on Day 2 and walked away with one of best classes from top to bottom.
What makes the Lions draft so weird is that all of their players are solid. Heck, they were after round one as well. There wasn’t a truly bad, head-scratching pick among them — but the lack of positional awareness in the first round by taking RB Jahmyr Gibbs, followed by ILB Jack Campbell was absolutely worthy of lampooning. This really could have gone all the way off the rails, and for a while on Friday it looked like it was heading that way again, but two home run picks back-to-back pulled it all together.
Detroit’s draft makes sense if you just reorder the picks. If you ignore where the Lions took their players and work them into an order, suddenly this makes a lot more sense. Imagine if this is how the class broke down:
No. 12: Brian Branch, S — Alabama
No. 18: Jahmyr Gibbs, RB — Alabama
No. 34: Hendon Hooker, QB — Tennessee
No. 45: Sam LaPorta, TE — Iowa
No. 68: Jack Campbell, ILB — Iowa
If you presented that board to anyone ahead of the draft they’d absolutely love it. This just took time to come together. Now, I’m not going to pretend there wasn’t some luck involved too — because Branch is really the piece which makes the whole class tick, but ultimately it worked out.
Hendon Hooker is obviously the most intriguing piece here. Detroit is a really nice landing spot for him. Selecting him in the third round is an appropriate spot, and it keeps expectations measured. There’s a lot to like here to, and also a ton to learn. The Tennessee spread offense really doesn’t translate to the NFL at all, but Hooker has the tools and football IQ to adjust — with time. Now he can sit behind Jared Goff with very little pressure, and it keeps the quarterback position fluid enough that if he doesn’t show signs of putting everything together, Detroit didn’t lose a lot of draft capital to take a shot.
I can’t recall a time where I disliked a team’s Day 1 as much, then come totally around on their Day 2 — but here we are.
Winner: Tennessee Titans
Much like Detroit, if you told any Titans fan before the draft that they’d leave Kansas City with Will Levis and Peter Skoronski, without trading up, they wouldn’t have believed you.
Tennessee is a good landing spot for Levis as well, if (and it’s a major caveat), they have patience this time. Levis and Malik Willis are not remotely the same player, but we’re a year removed from the Titans taking a sliding QB who needed time to develop, and they’ve cut bait already and moved on.
There are serious things Levis needs to work on. At this point he’s a tough, big-armed quarterback with pro system experience. However, he’s lacks rhythm, touch, feel, and accuracy. These aren’t small issues, but there’s home-run potential if he can put it together.
Levis can sit, learn, and get the toe surgery that popped up late in the draft process. There is a path to success here, if the Titans (and fans) and willing to give this time.
Loser: Carolina Panthers
The second day of the Panthers draft represents a major shift in draft philosophy for the Panthers, and that makes it tough to evaluate — but at face value this was a very risky day.
Traditionally this is a team who has valued production over promise, but Jonathan Mingo and D.J. Johnson are major departures for them. Mingo has every tool you’d want, but an alarming lack of production to account for. Johnson is another guy who has the athletic tools, but a severe lack of experience.
This could work. The Panthers have assembled an All Star cast of coaches around Frank Reich to support this class, but this feels a little like they took major risks to try and find athletes, which could bust very easily. Mingo is the safer of the picks, but he’s also at a much more critical position to hit on with D.J. Moore gone. There will be a lot of crossed fingers and hopes that he can become a solid target for Bryce Young.
Winner: New England Patriots
Day 2 was made for the Pats, and they killed it as usual. Both Keion White and Marte Mapu are spot-on Patriots guys who have ludicrous potential and fit the prototype of what the Patriots are looking for on defense.
When you combine those two with Christian Gonzalez on Thursday there’s the makings of a really nasty defense that can make noise in the future.
In can always be tricky to evaluate Patriots’ drafts the night of, or in the weeks following — but wait a few years and most of these guys will become starter-plus level monsters. This draft is no different.
Loser: Josh Richards, Canadian Influencer
What a loser.
