You might not like the Lions' first-round draft haul, but Mike Valenti isn't here to yell about it.
"Here's the overriding message," he said. "The Lions got better. They did. I'd be an ass to come on the air and tell you they're not better. Now, they might not be better in the right places, they might not be better in the ways you wanted, but let me be very clear: Being upset because they didn't take who Kiper or McShay said they would take, that's on you. Those guys do not know the value boards, they never do. Two, this is not that great of a draft. The GM's are squawking here: 13 first-round grades, 16 first-round grades."
By process of elimination, Valenti says the Lions may have had a first-round grade on only seven players by the time they traded down to No. 12. And in addition to getting an extra second-rounder, "in Brad Holmes' mind, he walked away with two of the seven guys that he really wanted."
"This is what we always ask for. Don't play it safe, put your nuts down on the table. Because here's the reality: Brad Holmes, with this draft, is going to test the belief that many people have in him and he's going to open himself up to people who are ready to launch him into a space rocket," says Valenti.
On the Jack Campbell pick at No. 18, Valenti says, "What do we bitch about? How bad this team's linebackers are. They drafted a guy who, you want comps athletically? On the low side, it's Cowboys linebacker Leighton Vander Esch. On the high side, it's Luke Kuechly. If they have that kind of grade on this kid, you got better."
Ultimately, says Valenti, Holmes and the Lions "didn't like the first round, so they said, 'F it, we're walking with two of the first-round grades we have and we're getting out of here."
"The way I view it is, if you're furious that they took these players, and last night was I furious at Jahmyr Gibbs, if you're pissed about Jake Campbell, you're advocating that Brad Holmes take a player they have a second-round grade on. They could have taken Nolan Smith twice, they didn't want him. And 27 other teams passed, so I can't freak out."
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