Notes: PFF is in love with the Detroit Lions’ 2020 draft

Whether you love or hate PFF, their influence on NFL teams and the media is now undeniable. The analytics website has worked its way into the forefront of grading and analyzing individual performances both in the college and professional ranks.

This is why it’s notable that PFF has been falling over itself with praise for the Detroit Lions’ draft class. They gave the Lions an overall grade of A, and even said they believe Julian Okwara was one of the biggest steals of the draft.

“Although he suffered a season-ending injury in Week 11 this past year, there’s no reason Okwara should have been available in the third round,” Anthony Treash wrote. “With his explosiveness off the line, overall athleticism and long arms, Okwara was a first-round talent in this draft.”

Like myself, PFF isn’t a huge of drafting a running back as high as Detroit did. So when it came to listing the best and worst picks of each draft class, PFF’s Michael Renner had to list D’Andre Swift as the worst. But in his intro, he specifically said, “If your team drafted a running back in the first three rounds, the chances are it’s our least-favorite pick. To avoid sounding like a broken record, I won’t be including many of them among the least-favorite picks.”

So why did Renner stick with Swift for Detroit?

I said I wouldn’t include running backs, but that’s how much we loved the Lions’ other picks. This isn’t even an indictment of Swift, who was the top running back on PFF’s board. Lights out draft for Detroit.

• Sticking with PFF, they have this awesome video of Julian Okwara breaking down some of his best pass moves:

• Were you one of the many swept up in the Quinnebago storyline? Chris Burke of The Athletic caught up with the Lions’ IT director who spent all three days of the NFL Draft hanging out in Bob Quinn’s driveway. It’s a hell of a story.

• Delicious, delicious drama coming from Green Bay:

• Justin Rogers of the Detroit News doesn’t give out draft grades, but his overall thoughts on the Lions’ draft haul are quite interesting.

• New Lions guard Logan Stenberg has been described as “nasty” by several coaches and analysts. Looks like he’s leaning into that identity:

• The Lions are currently holding a draft auction, featuring items like a signed Jeff Okudah helmet, a game of trivia with Lomas Brown and Barry Sanders, and playing Call of Duty with Kerryon Johnson and Jamal Agnew. All money goes straight to charity.