Breaking down Jeff Okudah trade; Should Lions trade for Devin White?

On Tuesday night, we convened for an emergency podcast in the wake of the news that the Detroit Lions are trading Jeff Okudah to the Atlanta Falcons. While the news may not have been all that surprising, it is certainly a development worth INSTANT ANALYSIS treatment. Trading away the third overall pick three years into his career for just a fifth-round pick is a notable moment.

So we discussed everything about the Okudah trade: our initial reactions, what it means for the Lions right now and for the NFL Draft, and if the Lions got good value in the trade. We also discuss what it means on a human level. Okudah was a hard worker and appeared to do everything right to make it with the Lions—it just didn’t work out.

“There’s a lot of people doing that today, unfortunately, trying to run victory laps over Okudah, which is a shame,” Erik Schlitt said. “Because this is a kid who is very intelligent, very motivated, he gave everything he had. It’s not like it was a lack of effort that landed him in the situation he was in.”

That discussion takes up our entire first segment.

In the second segment, we kick it over to our weekly mailbag podcast. Linebacker takes up the majority of our discussion in the back half, as we talk about the current level of need at the position, the Lions’ reported visit with Drew Sanders, and the news that Devin White is on the trade block.

Personally, I am firmly against a trade for White.

“No, absolutely not,” I said. “Stop trying to get linebackers to the Lions, because you want to upgrade from Alex Anzalone so badly, because guess what? Devin White is not an upgrade from Alex Anzalone. He doesn’t know the system as well as Alex Anzalone, his PFF score way worse. And if you want to complain about Alex Anzalone’s missed tackles, let me tell you the missed tackle rates from last year: Alex Anzalone: 12.5%, Devin White: 14.0%. He’s a worse tackler, he’s worse in coverage. He can rush the passer probably a little better, but that’s it.”

You can listen to the entire show below.