Notes: NFL analysts offer insight on Lions draft strategy

Everybody thinks the Lions go defense early, but there’s some room for offensive line and receiver depth as well.

The NFL Combine has come and gone, but a series of interviews by team reporter Dannie Rogers from Indianapolis have some relevance going forward as we see how the Lions maneuver in free agency and look to the draft. We mentioned earlier in the week that Rogers spoke to Charles Davis from NFL on CBS, but she also did interviews with three other analysts from other outlets while at the Combine: NFL Network’s Cynthia Frelund, Pro Football Focus’ Trevor Sikkema, and Fox Sports’ NFC North reporter Carmen Vitali. They posted videos of the interviews to the team’s official YouTube channel.

A Michigan native from Okemos near the Lansing area, the data-focused Frelund actually started her SIX-minute interview speaking about the emotional experience of getting to attend a Lions playoff victory in person this past season. Regarding the team’s offseason and on-the-field decisions, she believes continuity from having both coordinators back and a solid veteran offensive line “the more continuity the better, everyone’s on the same page a lot more often. There’s a reason why a guy like (Chiefs defensive coordinator) Steve Spagnuolo has had so much success as a defensive coordinator. He keeps, like; keep the same player, keep the same players. I mean, very helpful.”

She told Rogers she hopes her “favorite corner out of Toledo somehow falls there (but) it’s not going to happen.” More realistically, she think the Lions should go for the best available edge rusher or cornerback at the 29th pick. Is a trade up a possibility? Frelund thinks if there’s a run on quarterbacks early, it might be possible.

Next up we have PFF’s lead draft analyst Trevor Sikkema with high praise for the overall approach of Lions general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell in steadfastly acquiring players that fit their vision to open up his six-and-a-half-minute interview. Sikkema thinks everybody talks about getting players that fit their scheme, but “not every regime has the ability or just acts on that as much as they would like to say that they do. The Lions to a T are doing that, and I think that’s why we’ve seen so much success from them.”

Similar to Frelund, Sikkema thinks at the bottom of the first round the Lions should be thinking edge rusher or cornerback, and he believes “that there are guys that will be available for them.” The first player he mentioned by name was Missouri’s Darius Robinson, who Sikkema was extremely impressed with from the way Robinson spoke with passion about being versatile on the field. From the cornerback prospect pool, some names the analyst floated as possibilities at the end of the first round were Kamari Lassiter from Georgia, T.J. Tampa from Iowa State, or Kool-Aid McKinstry from Alabama.

Offensively, Sikkema thinks the Lions could add depth on the offensive line and in the wide receiver corps. He wouldn’t be surprised to see the Lions taking a guy they love on the offensive line they love “maybe even early on day 2.” For pass catchers, he thought Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, and Jahmyr Gibbs are all great but “you can never have too many playmakers in this league; it’s all about lighting up the scoreboard.” Sikkema thinks this is “one of the deepest wide receiver classes (he’s) seen in a while.” That helps the Lions a lot because “again, that is something where you’re not picking one until Day 2 it’s all right. You can still get yourself an impact player there as well.”

Finally, we have Fox NFC North reporter Carmen Vitali, who covered the division last season and had great familiarity with Detroit’s issues against the pass in 2023. She started her four-minute interview with a really interesting angle to bolster the performance of the defense: “don’t sleep on a better interior D-Line rotation and making sure that is constantly putting pressure on opposing offensive lines; on opposing quarterbacks. Because, honestly, that’s going to help out the back end a lot more.”

Vitali pointed out 3-technique penetrator Florida State’s Braden Fiske as a possible target, noting he’s “a coach’s dream. He’s gritty, he’s tough.” In Vitali’s view, Fiske is “someone that sounds like a Dan Campbell type of guy to me; sounds like an Aaron Glenn type of guy to me.”

The analyst believes the Lions would be best served by loading up on defense early. “I mean, you have this offensive juggernaut. You have it under a guy like Ben Johnson who can make just incredible use of all these different talents that he has, all these different weapons that he has.”

While she admits the team could stand to add offensive line depth, Vitali thinks the offensive line class is very deep and the Lions could get a good guard later in the draft. Due to that, she thinks they go defense first and if not an edge rusher then “you want to try and get more of a blue chip kind of outside corner” like Toledo’s Mitchell if possible.

Solving the pass defense’s issues is really a depth issue in her opinion because so much of what happened last year was affected by injuries. Vitali pointed out the heartbreaking injuries to Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and said “there’s not a lot you can do against that unless you have a really deep rotation and you can kind of weather those storms,” so that’s where she thinks the focus needs to be. That makes her optimistic that the Lions can deal with it though, because it means Aaron Glenn’s scheme is fine and she has confidence everything works as long as players stay healthy; something the Lions can address by adding more defensive backs.

All three interviews are up on the team’s official YouTube channel, and offer great insight from some experienced analysts so check them out. We now move on to the rest of your Weekend Notes:

• If you haven’t already watched it, check out Meko and Morgan’s 30-minute video previewing free agency for the Detroit Lions on our official YouTube channel:

• From the “where are they now” department, we have a great article by ESPN’s Mike Rothstein on former Lions running back Bo Scarbrough. Scarbrough is back at the University of Alabama to finish a degree and possibly pursue a career with the FBI:

Before he left for the NFL, he started to cobble together the beginnings of a career. He interned at the local public defender’s office in Tuscaloosa and sought advice from employees at various Homeland Security offices.

Scarbrough always paid attention to the criminal justice field. It’s his future — and also his present as he works toward his degree. Every class he’s taken, every internship he’s acquired has been set on making it his post-career plan.

• It’s behind a paywall on The Athletic, but Dan Pompei wrote about what former Lions quarterback Scott Mitchell would have done differently if he could have gone back in time.

• Fearless Leader Jeremy Reisman serving as the one man Community Notes crew:

• Oh, this series of posts from the social media team putting players in movie posters for the Academy Awards weekend is really fun. Click through to see Decker Goff as The Nice Guys, Sam LaPorta as The Rookie, Aidan Hutchinson in a twist on the Hitch movie poster, head coach Dan Campbell over the title of the modern Coen brothers western True Grit, running backs Gibbs and Montgomery as a Hustle and Flow duo, Ben Johnson and Amon-Ra St. Brown with the best playbook in a variation on the Silver Linings Playbook poster, The Fantastic Mr. Fox with your favorite field position optimization specialist, and front office executives Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew in a spin on the Sherlock Holmes movie poster.