NFL Draft, Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Duane Prokop/Getty Images)
It was a long road to get here, but the 2021 NFL Draft has now officially come and gone. And the Detroit Lions, under new general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell, made a total of seven selections in this year’s draft.
Coming into this year’s draft there was a lot of pressure on this new regime due to the failures o their predecessors. Former general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia struggled mightly to bring young talent into Detroit, which is part of the reason the Lions are in the mess they are.
With so many needs Brad Holmes decided before the draft began, he wasn’t going to reach for any specific position, and instead deferred to taking the best player available at each pick.
Obviously, this current Detroit Lions team could not be fixed overnight, and Holmes knew that. This year is about establishing the culture and you can see that intention reflected in the picks that Detroit ended up making.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and if the Lions want to eventually turn into a Super Bowl contender, they have to start from the bottom and work their way up from there.
As we all know you can’t truly grade a draft class properly for three or four years afterward, and that’s a point I want to emphasize. I liked this draft, a lot, but if you didn’t just wait and see these young guys play before you write them off.
Now, let’s get right into the grades.