With the 29th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Lions select....

[Newbomb Turk]

Anyone on the board from the Michigan defense.

Please?

[chemiclord]

The Lions most essential needs coming into this offseason are:

CB1
EDGE
DT opposite McNeil

I figure the Lions have to fill at least two of them with high level, impact players, because those three holes really fed off each other all season.

The Lions were frequently devoting bodies in the secondary either on the blitz or in run support, leaving their CBs on an island far too often. While yes, it meant the Lions were a great run defense, they frequently got torched in the passing game. Meanwhile, having their LBs crashing down so often meant that if containment failed there were massive swaths of green for elusive QBs to gash the Lions for huge chunk plays.

This was a big part of the Lions "smoke and mirrors" defense, because you actually saw what happened in these playoffs when they went away from that; a supposedly very poor Tampa running game actually had a ton of success running the ball against this supposedly great run defense when they weren't committing seven or eight men in the box.

Offensively, I don't really see too many dire, immediate needs, but they want to make sure they keep building their O-Line depth. There are quite a few critical pieces of that O-Line that are getting long in the tooth. Having people ready to step in two years down the road will go a long way towards keeping the Lions window of opportunity open.

[GALion68]

And a reliable kicker from longer distances. Can't go another season of more 4th down gambles over a FG of 50 yards.

[chemiclord]

And a reliable kicker from longer distances. Can't go another season of more 4th down gambles over a FG of 50 yards.

I honestly think that those decisions really have next to nothing to do with the kicker. I really do believe that they could have peak Matt Prater as their kicker, and Campbell would be going for it at pretty much the exact same rate.

That said, that is a position they should upgrade if they can. I just really don't think the Lions are going to. They've successfully worked themselves into a shoot on that one.

[Mainevent]

I do think they need to look at another WR - a physical player or big bodied WR. Reynolds is probably best suited as a 4 and he's playing a defacto 2 (not counting LaPorta). Jamo is just not there and both he and Reynolds are too up and down. This is a deep draft for WRs so it doesn't have to be a guy in the first or 2nd but they need somebody.

[froot loops]

I kind of think Jameson Williams was the underrated success story of the second half of the season and they need to work him more into the offense. He went from what looked like shying away from contact and alligator arms into making a lot of tough catches.

Ultimately, the defense has got to get better. They were out gained by all three playoff opponents. The defense made strides from last year but still a bottom third defense by conventional metrics and median by DVOA. That is definition of bend but don't break, but that's hard to expect a championship with that.

The got to really hope Campbell makes a leap. I think the Anzelone injury limited him and the Barnes injury killed them. JRM was also limited with hamstring issues. The result was they had to rely way too much on Rodrigo and Campbell.

[Mainevent]

Remember when Jack Campbell made that diving pass deflection in zone early in the year? That might have been the only play he made against the pass all season. Rough first year for him.

[ghandi]

"Offensively, I don't really see too many dire, immediate needs, but they want to make sure they keep building their O-Line depth. There are quite a few critical pieces of that O-Line that are getting long in the tooth. Having people ready to step in two years down the road will go a long way towards keeping the Lions window of opportunity open."

It depends on what they do with Jonah Jackson also.....He might be too expensive if he commands more than 10M per season, especially with Penei coming up for an extension in the near future. Im guessing they resign Glasgow for another year if he is willing to do that....Even so I can see Guard being in play somewhere from the 3rd round on....Probably another WR also and maybe a backup TE....Im not sure who all is staying and going at this point.

[Mainevent]

TE would definitely be on my list for day 3. Mitchell never popped as a receiver this year and really think they could use another guy that can catch some passes.

[froot loops]

It's weird with Campbell, he was certainly good enough to play in his first season. His overall PFF grade was 57.7. That's not bad, but the pass coverage was an issue. Barnes' rookie year he had a dreadful 30 and he barely saw the field until this season when he made the leap. Anzelone's first year in Detroit was also a dreadful 35.4.

So if you are hopeful, you think he has a good baseline and you hope he makes a leap. But there is a scenario like with Jarrad Davis or Ernie Sims that it doesn't happen.

We can list all the pressing needs, but pragmatically you only have so many draft picks and a few chances at free agency each year. Free agency is mostly fools' gold and expecting Holmes to continue hitting is this fashion in the draft is dubious at best.To get to the next level guys like Campbell and Jameson Williams need to improve to become plus level players at all times.

[chemiclord]

What also sucks is that the most pressing needs on defense are arguably the hardest pieces to find.

[Mainevent]

Campbell, Williams, Sorsdal and Martin - need to see huge steps out of all of those guys next year.

Also, this is part of the reason I wanted a CB last year, because you get that first year development out of the way and then primed for a year 2 step up. Now they likely will go into next year relying on a high pick CB to play a major role.

[froot loops]

Agreed, look at San Fran they have spent a considerable amount of capital trying to bolster that defensive line and it really wasn't much better than the Lions D Line. They are in the Superbowl so fair play to them, but that defensive line got worked yesterday.

[Lionsfan123]

"Offensively, I don't really see too many dire, immediate needs, but they want to make sure they keep building their O-Line depth. There are quite a few critical pieces of that O-Line that are getting long in the tooth. Having people ready to step in two years down the road will go a long way towards keeping the Lions window of opportunity open."

It depends on what they do with Jonah Jackson also.....He might be too expensive if he commands more than 10M per season, especially with Penei coming up for an extension in the near future. Im guessing they resign Glasgow for another year if he is willing to do that....Even so I can see Guard being in play somewhere from the 3rd round on....Probably another WR also and maybe a backup TE....Im not sure who all is staying and going at this point.

I think Jonah’s time may be up. Gets hurt way too often and I think the injuries are catching up with him. Awosika didn’t play too terrible so it’ll be interesting to see how he develops in his place

[chemiclord]

One thing I've noticed is that a surprising number of rookie CBs have been hitting the ground running the last few years.