April is here and that means the 2024 NFL Draft is just over the horizon. We’ll finally get to see where all these names we’ve been staring at for months wind up in the league and which of them wind up with the Detroit Lions.
The Lions have had a lot of draft picks in the first two rounds of the last three drafts. They have made all kinds of moves at important positions. Fantasy Pros’ Sam Hoppen made a graph to show the last time teams took a player at each position in the first and second rounds and there were two spots that immediately jumped out for the Lions.
The first obviously being quarterback. The Lions haven’t taken one early since Matthew Stafford in 2009. They haven’t had to since they went from Stafford to Goff. They haven’t drafted an interior offensive lineman in a while either.
The one that really caught my eye was that the Lions haven’t drafted an interior defensive lineman in the first two rounds since they took A’Shawn Robinson in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft.
There’s a very good chance that all these streaks continue for the Lions this year. Here’s why:
Quarterback is obvious. The Lions have Jared Goff and an extension for him is around the corner this offseason. The Lions also have Hendon Hooker on the bench. They just don’t need a quarterback.
As far as an interior lineman goes, I wrote not long ago that I think the Lions see that as something they can hold off on. Kevin Zeitler give the Lions time to see what they have for sure in Colby Sorsdal and Kayode Awosika. Both have shown enough flashes to think that one of them could be a starter in the future.
The interior of the defensive line is a need, even with DJ Reader in town now. The Lions could use depth there. But with Brodric Martin on the team, you have to wonder if the Lions feel that they need to draft one early and if they do, is that the team just saying that Martin isn’t going to work out?
We’ll see where things go at the end of the month, but right now these streaks look like they’re likely going to keep getting longer.