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On Friday, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes took the virtual stage for his pre-draft press conference to the media. The word of the presser was “cluster.” Holmes repeated that word five times during the session, using it often to describe the amount of players he’d be comfortable taking if the Lions stick with the seventh overall pick in the draft.
And that will be the heart of Holmes’ first draft decision as Lions GM. Does he take one of those cluster of players—who have a good chance at becoming a blue-chip player the Lions have been lacking—or does he trade down and give Detroit more opportunities for starting-level talent?
That’s one of the many questions posed to us during this week’s Locker Room session, in which we answered your live questions on the Locker Room app. Do the Lions need to take the opportunity to grab a top-tier talent or are those draft resources better spent on accumulating more draft resources?
While the idea of grabbing a potential All-Pro talent is tempting and a great way to kickstart a rebuild, there’s also no guarantee that a top-seven player will reach their full potential. There is truly no such thing as a can’t-miss prospect.
That being said, the hit rate at the top of the draft is obviously higher than in the middle or the bottom of the draft, and trading down would certainly jeopardize the team’s ability to get an elite talent this year.
It’s a tough conundrum for Holmes and company, and we tried to tackle that question and a lot more on this week’s episode:
If you want to participate in our future Locker Room chats, be sure to download the app, follow @PrideOfDetroit, then fire up the app around 10:30 a.m. ET every Saturday for the live show. Note: There will be no show this upcoming week due to the NFL Draft on Saturday.
Our Locker Room chats are part of our main podcast feed, which you can subscribe to on the following platforms: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or iHeartRadio.