Friday, April 23, 2010

2010 Draft (Part 5) Day 2, Rounds 2 and 3

Draft "day" 2 is in the books.

Since the Lions traded up 4 spots to get into round 1 pick 30 yesterday and took RB Jahvid Best they did not have a 2nd round pick. I along with everyone else watched players get picked by other teams all round two just to see who would still be there in round 3, and there were many surprises. However, nothing that affected the Lions much in my opinion.

Then it became time for the Lions to draft at 66, and surprise, they did not trade down. They drafted Amari Spievey CB from Iowa. I wanted them to go with Brandon Ghee CB of Wake Forest who was actually still available. Spievey is nearly identical in height and weight to Ghee, so that part was not an issue. The knock on Spievey is his lack of run support, or tackling, or special teams play. He's a fast, man coverage, type of corner. Which is great, if all you are asked to do is cover. I just don't see that with the Lions. I therefor have to assume the Lions plan to teach Spievey to tackle. In that past, that kind of thing hasn't always worked out. Will it this time? I do not know.

Now, to be fair, there were similar knocks on Ghee, at least in the tackling department. Why the Lions had Spievey ranked so much higher then the others still available I do not know. Even why they had Spievey ranked higher then Ghee I do not know. I surely did not. So the wait to see who was right begins.

Getting a cover corner in round 3 is a good thing, I'm not saying it is not. But getting a defensive player who doesn't like to tackle is the easy way to get into Gunther's doghouse, right Mr. Buchanan? Mr. Foote? Mr. everyone else that is no longer a lion after only one year? That's not to say they never tackled anyone, it's if they tackle on a regular basis, perhaps even love to do it.

Let's all hope, lions fans, that they made the right pick here in round 3. I truly wish to never once have to post "I told you so" here in the years to come.

Now, at 10am tomorrow morning the NFL will finish the rest of the draft. The Lions will finish their picks. I will finish my draft blog. And the rest of the off season can begin.

3 comments:

3rd world order said...

i heard just the opposite.. that spievey was the surest tacking CB in the draft.

Nikko said...

Enjoy your blog considerably, but I also have heard the opposite - he's a good tackler and solid in run support, but had concerns about speed (ran the 40 in the 4.5s) and staying with receivers on long routes.

NetRat's Lions Blog said...

I made the correction with an explanation in part 6.