FanPost

Draft Grade = C+


I give the first two rounds of this draft a C+. I don't hate the picks, however the Lions are picking at #5 in each round. They ought to be getting players that I don't hate.

Overall, a couple of very risky picks with upside but no guarantees. When picking this high, we should have three bonified starters today. I am just not sure that we got that. It is possible, but I am left wondering.......

What do you think?

Below is a synopsis of my grading:

Ziggy Ansah:

The draft shaped up horribly for the Lions leaving Ziggy, Millner and Mingo as about the only players left. Unless of course, you condone taking a guard in the top 5 of the draft. So based on this advantageous position, I may have made the same pick.

Ziggy is raw and a project for sure. He hasn't played much football at all. Comparisons to Pierre-Paul are simply out of line. Ziggy runs fast, jumps high and has all of the measurables. However, measurables do not make plays. Watching him on the field looked good, but not great to me. He plays too upright, takes really wide angles, does not tackle well and basically used his athletic skill only to make plays. At best, he will be good in a couple of years. I forgot to mention his stamina issues.

Darius Slay:

This guy is very fast. He does play quickly with catch up speed to give. It is nice to see a fluid athlete cruising around the field. He also is not afraid to stick his nose in and make tackles. His tackling technique can definitely use some work. There are many of plays where he made the tackle, but he had to hang on for dear life because the opponent had nearly slipped away. Darius' ball skills are not very good. I saw a couple of sure interceptions that he dropped. His athletic ability gets him in the right place, but he doesn't seem to always make the play. The knee injury scares me, and I therefore I think it was a risk that was not worth it at the top of the second. This is one year from skipping on Janoris Jenkins!!?? This guy is no Janoris Jenkins!!

Larry Warford:

Larry is an absolute house. He is a big dude that moves pretty well for his size. When his mean streak is going, he is tough. However, he plays inconsistently with that mean streak. I also noticed that he plays very upright. I like to see guys that are going to dig in get low with a good base and plaster defensive players. The experts taught him as a good goal line blocker, but if he stays as high as I saw he will get bowled over. He also gets lost in space. Much of the footage that I saw, he has a tendency to try to go to the second level but he ends up looking around for someone to block while the play either passes him by or stops.

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Pride Of Detroit or its writers.