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On Day 2 of the 2015 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions added running back Ameer Abdullah and cornerback Alex Carter. Here on Pride Of Detroit, 44 percent of voters gave the Abdullah pick a B grade. 30 percent went with an A, with 19 percent going with a C. For the Carter pick, 52 percent of voters went with a B, with 22 percent giving the selection an A grade and 20 percent going with a C.
How do those grades compare to the national reaction to these two picks? On SB Nation, Dan Kadar gave the Lions a B grade for the Abdullah pick and an overall B grade for their first three picks as a whole. On CBS Sports, meanwhile, Pete Prisco gave the Lions a C+ for Abdullah and a B- for Carter.
Here's more national reaction to the Abdullah and Carter picks:
Pro Football Focus on Abdullah:
What He Brings: Great vision and extremely quick in and out of his cuts. More powerful than he looks and with three down back upside. Does need to get much better in pass pro where he had the fifth lowest grade against the Power-5. Still did earn a better grade for his rushing than TJ Yeldon and was third overall in the class from a production point of view.
Where He Fits: Take what Reggie Bush did (was meant to do) and fit Abdullah into that role. He’s going to be the lightening to the thunder of Joique Bell.
Different to the en vogue corner in that he’s much better in zone. Will struggle with change of direction and isn’t the quickest, so naturally had problems with shiftier receivers which resulted in a poor production grade (he was only 43rd against Power 5 opposition). He won’t be asked to play this year you’d imagine and that might be for the best.
He's one of my favorite prospects in this entire draft. He isn't the biggest guy, but he runs angry, and he really loves the game. Every scout I talked to about Abdullah said he had one of the highest intangibles grades they'd ever given. As a runner, his biggest strength is his excellent lateral agility and ability to accelerate off of his cuts. He also has excellent vision. I'm not totally sold on his fit with the Lions, but he's just a really good football player.
SB Nation's Stanford blog on Carter:
In the future I can see Carter being switched to a safety because his speed is not up to par. He is more of an "inside" type of corner, which means he could either play safety or be a slot corner. Carter would be a good safety because of his size, strength and his ability to aggressively tackle an incoming receiver. Also Carter has great field awareness in which allows him to sit back in left field and create some interceptions. Overall Alex Carter is a solid pick for the Lions and a great situation for Carter to be in.
New Lions HB Ameer Abdullah had an Elusive Rating of 71.3 v Power 5 Opponents, 4th in this draft class
— Pro Football Focus (@PFF) May 2, 2015
#Lions fans, RB Ameer Abdullah posted the top SPARQ percentile for RBs this year at 97.4, per @zjwhitman http://t.co/r57XwOKLeW
— Josh Norris (@JoshNorris) May 2, 2015
Great pick for the Lions. Abdullah is going to be a stud there
— Ian Wharton (@NFLFilmStudy) May 2, 2015