FanPost

Revisiting the Lions 2012-2016 Draft Classes!

I'm not a fan of grading draft picks as soon as the draft ends. I think it is a pointless exercise can't be done accurately because we have no idea how the players will perform once it comes time for the season to kick off. "Experts" take their best educated (but most times uneducated) guesses on the players, but it isn't always accurate. In fact, more often than not, its entirely wrong.

I wanted to prove a point that these grades given out right after drafts shouldn't be given any sort of meaningful thought, so I went digging. I dug through the Lions past draft classes and found the grades each individual player received and the Lions got as a whole for that draft. I focused on 2012-2016 since I believe those drafts can pretty fairly be graded now, and I thought I knew what I was getting myself into. It was ugly. Uglier than I remembered it being. Hindsight is always 20/20.

Here is a podcast I recorded with detailed descriptions of each pick.

For those who aren't interested in the podcast, here are some quick hits:

  1. Martin Mayhew was terrible.
  2. Out of the five drafts, the Lions drafted 42 players.
  3. Out of those 42, only 7 players received an A- or better grade from me.
  4. Conversely, out of the 42, 10 received an F.
  5. My highest graded player was Darius Slay.
  6. My lowest graded player was Nate Freese.
  7. Eric Ebron got a C.
  8. Sam Martin fell in the top 10.
  9. Four other players drafted in the 2013 draft joined Martin in the top 10.
  10. The 2012 draft has 4 players from it in the bottom 10.
Overall, during the regrade, the 2016 and 2013 drafts both got a B+, 2015 got a D+ and 2014 and 2012 got D-'s.

It's easy to see why the Lions have been so up and down over that time period.

I will be working back to at least the 2007 draft, potentially going even further into "He Who Shall Not Be Named"'s drafts if I decide to really feel depressed about this team.

I'll see you all in my write up for 2007-2011.

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