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No NFL Draft is complete without a couple of head-scratching picks. You’ll very rarely find a top-to-bottom draft that draws rave reviews for every single pick.
The Detroit Lions’ 2019 draft class certainly doesn’t fit that mold, as the second-round pick of Jahlani Tavai sent fans into a tantrum, seeing as almost no analyst had him as a second-round pick.
That being said, it certainly seemed like fans rebounded after seeing the entire class come together by the end of the final day of the draft. So today’s Question of the Day is:
What was the Lions’ best 2019 draft pick?
My answer: This feels like a pretty easy answer to me. When taking into account player talent, positional need and value for the pick, taking Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye in the fifth round sticks out as Detroit’s most sensible pick.
While there are definitely concerns to be had as to why Oruwariye fell three round farther than many people projected him to go, even general manager Bob Quinn admitted that Oruwariye was in play for their fourth-round pick.
“He was a guy that we talked about in Round 4, to be honest with you,” Quinn said. “We started the day out (and) we had a group of – I think it was about seven or eight guys that we were hoping in the next two rounds were going to be there.”
As the draft went on, I started to grow doubtful that Detroit was going address one of their more pressing needs at outside cornerback, and Quinn thankfully put those concerns to bed with this pick.
Oruwariye may not start ahead of Rashaan Melvin at the beginning of the season, but there’s a good chance he competes for a starting job in the long term, and that’s all you’re really looking for in a fifth-round draft pick.
Your turn.
Poll
What was the Lions’ best 2019 draft pick?
This poll is closed
-
28%
T.J. Hockenson
(444 votes) -
8%
Jahlani Tavai
(131 votes) -
5%
Will Harris
(81 votes) -
8%
Austin Bryant
(135 votes) -
41%
Amani Oruwariye
(640 votes) -
1%
Travis Fulgham
(25 votes) -
2%
Ty Johnson
(34 votes) -
1%
Isaac Nauta
(23 votes) -
2%
PJ Johnson
(33 votes)