Most great opportunities in life are fleeting.
If your boss asks you to help out on an assignment above your pay grade and you screw up, that’s probably the only time they’ll ask. If you and your romantic partner are absolutely perfect for each other, but something one of you says gets lost in translation, chances are that perfect match was for nothing. There won’t be a rekindling. It’s not how life works!
And if you’re a NFL team accustomed to dwelling in the basement, armed with a one-time shot at injecting excitement and consistency, like, say, the Lions — you’d do well not to waste such an opening. Who knows when that shot comes again?
If you haven’t heard, perennially rebuilding Detroit will be picking No. 2 overall in April’s NFL Draft. For now. Barring shocking news failing Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars at No. 1, every quarterback in this draft class will be available to the Lions. Every single one. (Bettors with Tipico Sportsbook have Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson -260 to go first to Jacksonville.)
Conveniently, the Lions don’t have a quarterback. Well, unless they think Jared Goff is about to go the way of late-career Rich Gannon, which, I suppose, more power to them. That means Brad Holmes, Dan Campbell, and Co. should be sitting put in their current near-top slot so they can give Malik Willis the keys to their Ford (Field). It’s a no-brainer.
Uh, about that.
The Lions have fielded calls from a couple teams about trading out of the No. 2 pick. Nothing serious yet per Brad Holmes, but talks are under way
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) March 29, 2022
I love NFL-speak. Everyone’s in their little offices, “fielding calls” and trading state secrets of paramount importance over a game.
Anyway, it’s worth noting that every team near the top of the draft is fielding calls every spring. You’d be doing a disservice to your franchise if you didn’t at least check if another pitiful squad didn’t want to back up a Brinks truck of draft picks into your driveway. This sentiment holds particular weight in the NFL, where there are a lot of bad GMs just waiting to make a poor trade. There wouldn’t be so many (so many) awful teams if they didn’t have misguided puppeteers at the helm.
But something tells me the Lions are more serious about their calls for this year’s No. 2 pick. Sure, someone like Willis might not be on the same level as a prospect like Lawrence or even Justin Fields. And that alone can make it seem like Willis, with his raw gifts and all, will be there if you drop down a few spots and take the briefcase of picks. Easy-peasy, right?
Wrong.
Brad Holmes says the Lions are willing to trade the No. 2 pick before the start of the draft. Detroit doesn't need to see who goes No. 1 before making the decision to pull the trigger — for the right price, obviously.
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) March 29, 2022
Some scouts have said Willis has “special parts” to his game. That means quarterbacks such as him, whether you think it’s a down year for the position or not, seldom make it out of the top five. There’s a premium on professional quality quarterback play, and that’s not going to stop any time soon. If you have a shot at drafting someone like Willis that you might have to be patient with and develop for a little while, it’s worth the risk because the pay-off is tremendous.
The pay-off of picking a guy like Willis gives you a specific edge most teams don’t have, and one some teams have been seeking for years, even decades:
A good quarterback.
Also, while I don’t know the Lions’ still-budding regime plans for the future, they already have a solid landing pad for a quarterback! Taylor Decker is one of the league’s better left tackles. Penei Sewell, last year’s top-10 pick, has a lot of promise on the other side. Frank Ragnow, a 2020 Pro Bowler, is an elite center. Do you know how awesome you have to be to make a Pro Bowl on a 5-11 squad? Pretty awesome!
Suffice to say; the Lions can protect Willis. They can bring him along gradually, like he needs, before eventually unleashing his final form on an unsuspecting league. There have been far worse situations for rookie quarterbacks.
If this iteration of the Lions doesn’t take Willis at No. 2, they probably won’t get another chance for a top-flight quarterback. They’ll go 6-11 or 7-10 next year, set themselves up for good ol’ fashioned consistent respectability, before flaming out and wondering what happened within a few years.
They didn’t have a quarterback. That’s what happened.
I lied, by the way.
If the Lions don’t take Willis now, they’ll definitely get another shot at a top prospect under center. Years from now, with a new GM and new head coach, after having wasted another half decade’s worth of time.
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