One of the most pressing needs for the Lions this off-season is at the corner back position. Now fortunately enough for the Lions they no longer have to draft the best player on the board and can finally draft based on need.
The trouble in all of this however is their draft position.
The Lions pick 13th overall in this year’s draft and if they were hoping to get a top notch corner they may have played themselves out of place by winning the last four games of the season.
The two top corners in this draft are Patrick Peterson out of LSU whose big enough to slide over to safety if need be and Prince Amukamara out of Nebraska.
Again based on where the Lions are drafting this year Peterson is basically a non option for the Lions since he is more then likely going to go in the top ten. Many experts and analysts also believe that the same holds true for Amukamara as well. ESPN’s Todd McShay however believes that Amukamara may end up falling to Detroit. Here is what he has to say (by way of Tom Kowalski of Mlive.com)…
“It seems like every time I do this, the Lions are sitting there at No. 13 and just off the pace where their needs are,” McShay said on a conference call today with reporters. “I have three cornerbacks going in the top 11. You can make the argument that corner is in the top three (of the Lions’ needs). Corners usually don’t come off that high, that quickly so one of those three could be available, probably (Colorado’s) Jimmy Smith. Amukamara could certainly fall to No. 13. If not, you look at outside linebacker and I don’t know if there’s a fit. I don’t think Von Miller (of Texas A&M) is going to fall to No. 10, much less No. 13.
“That’s why I went with tackle, they need to plan for the future. I think (USC’s) Tyron Smith is one of the most underrated tackles. He and Solder are the top two and there’s a drop-off after that.”
McShay said he’s got three cornerbacks with “legitimate” first-round grades: LSU’s Patrick Peterson, Amukamara and Smith.
“A couple of other guys are on the fringe. In this year’s group, in general, I have 23 or 24 players with legitimate first-round grades so some guys are going in the first round who normally wouldn’t,” McShay said. “This isn’t a bad draft class, but it comes up short in comparison (to last year).”
As far as the cornerback position, McShay has Peterson going seventh overall to the San Francisco 49ers. Several draft experts have Peterson going in the top five.
“I think Amukamara is just slightly behind Peterson,” McShay said. “With Smith, I think there are some off-the-field things that need to be investigated, things like work ethic. If he drops, it’ll be off-the-field stuff, not on-the-field.”
It is my belief that Amukamara will be gone by the time the Lions draft at 13. However I do think it’s a possible that the Lions trade up in order to get a shot at the Nebraska corner.
Source: ESPN, Mlive.com
