They didn’t trade up, they didn’t trade down and low and behold they didn’t go defense with their 1oth overall pick.
Martin Mayhew and the Lions after missing out on Sammy Watkins took North Carolina tight end Eric Ebron to provide yet another weapon for quarterback Matthew Stafford.
Mayhew said there was no debate about taking Ebron at 10. He was the top player on Lions' board
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) May 9, 2014
Ebron finished up at North Carolina with 112 receptions for 1805 yards and immediately becomes a red zone weapon for Joe Lombardi’s offense. In addition to this Ebron also gives the Lions versatility to either line up as a traditional tight end or go wide with his ability to explode off the line and expand the field vertically.
Lower body strength is somewhat of an issue though for Ebron so his blocking ability won’t be great but still pretty adequate. Expect Lombardi to use Ebron very similarly to how Jimmy Graham was used in New Orleans.
