ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- A wrap-up of the Detroit Lions' draft.
Best move: The Lions placed a heavy emphasis on shoring up the team's run game throughout the draft. They drafted and traded for interior linemen (Laken Tomlinson, Manny Ramirez) in the first round, took a running back in the second round (Ameer Abdullah) and a fullback in the fifth round (Michael Burton). The Lions made it clear they wanted to remake their offensive line after having the No. 28 rushing offense during the 2014 season and allowing 45 sacks of Matthew Stafford. Detroit is clearly trying to balance its offense, and considering the draft the Lions had, they accomplished their goal.
Riskiest move: There haven't been many in this draft as the Lions took high-character, mostly reliable players at every turn. There were two things that stood out, though, as potential risks. The first was ignoring wide receiver for the first time in seven drafts for Martin Mayhew. Considering the Lions have somewhat of a need for a receiver, they might look heavily there for an undrafted free agent. The other risk was trading away next year's third-round pick to move into the fourth round and select defensive tackle Gabe Wright. Wright served a need for Detroit and might not have been there at the end of the fifth, but it is still a risk to trade away a top-100 pick. Even that has a caveat, though, since the Lions are likely to receive a third-round compensatory pick for losing Ndamukong Suh.
Most surprising move: Taking Michael Burton in the fifth round. The Lions were potentially in the market for a fullback after choosing to not bring back Jed Collins, but taking Burton in the fifth round was somewhat of a shock considering Detroit might have been able to nab him later on. Burton was the No. 2 fullback in the draft according to ESPN/Scouts Inc. but the No. 316 overall prospect. Considering the lack of value placed on fullbacks in many NFL offenses, he might have been available later on, but the Lions are building a run offense so the theory of drafting a fullback makes sense.
File it away: Quandre Diggs ends up starting at nickelback by the end of the year. It's a bold choice considering the logjam of players in front of him and his status as a sixth-round selection, but he has good bloodlines and experience a lot of sixth-round picks wouldn't have. He started for four years at Texas in the pass-happy Big 12, so he has no problem handling a high volume of pass attempts heading his way. He has 37 career pass breakups and 11 career interceptions. He's a good player whose size probably hurt him. But Bill Bentley and Nevin Lawson are coming off injuries and Josh Wilson is more of a placeholder, if anything. That isn't an overly inspiring group, so Diggs could have a chance if he comes into camp prepared.
My take: Pretty impressed overall with what the Lions did in this draft. As mentioned above, they came in with a clear goal to revamp the run game and all of their offensive picks slanted toward making sure that happened. Defensively they filled needs at defensive tackle, cornerback and maybe, with Alex Carter, down the road at safety. Overall this has been a safe, smart draft for Detroit. Thumbs up
