Detroit Lions: Kiper ignores one huge detail in 2017 NFL Draft re-grade

Mel Kiper has re-graded each team’s 2017 draft and holds the Detroit Lions at a C+ while failing to acknowledge one very big positive of the class.

Trying to grade what a team does in any NFL Draft as soon as it concludes is little more than the writer’s opinion of how what a team did lined up with what that person would have done. Every year there are first rounders who go on to be huge busts and players who get glossed over in the day three television coverage who go on to become very good players.

Drafts can be more accurately graded as time goes on, so it can be interesting to look back at original grades and then adjust down the line. That’s what Mel Kiper did for ESPN today.

At the conclusion of the 2017 NFL Draft, Kiper graded the Detroit Lions‘ haul as a C+. With their rookie seasons now in the book, Kiper expresses many of the same concerns he did about the draft class a year ago. Namely, the lack of a pass rusher and a running back – two needs he saw last season that he sees remaining today.

Kiper explains:

"I questioned last year whether the Lions filled their needs here, and now in 2018 they still need a pass-rusher and running back. (Sorry, Lions fans, LeGarrette Blount isn’t the answer.) So while I liked linebacker Jarrad Davis, there were pass-rushers available at pick 20 — Charles Harris, Takkarist McKinley and T. J. Watt — who could have helped. And there were running backs on Days 2 and 3 who definitely could have helped the worst rushing offense in the league."

He then goes on to recap some of the good and the bad, noting that Tabor started slow, Golladay was hampered by injury and that he thought Jarrad Davis was at least solid.

"Davis had a solid season, leading all rookies with 96 tackles and adding two sacks, an interception and a forced fumble. Cornerback Teez Tabor had a poor pre-draft process — he ran a 4.62 40-yard dash at the combine — and I thought the Lions reached in the second round. He ended up playing less than 200 snaps and being a healthy inactive for a few games. Wide receiver Kenny Golladay lit up training camp and had two touchdowns in Week 1 but injured his hamstring in Week 3. He had only one more TD the rest of the way but did average 17 yards per catch. There weren’t any other notable rookie contributors."

Wait. Hold up. THERE WEREN’T ANY OTHER NOTABLE ROOKIE CONTRIBUTORS?

Is being named a first-team All-Pro not a notable contribution? Because that is what Jamal Agnew was as a punt returner.

I get that Jamal Agnew, drafted as a cornerback, was not a big contributor to the defense. It remains to be seen if ever will be a significant contributor to the defense, but that does not mean he wasn’t a notable contributor to the team overall already.

As a rookie, Agnew staked a claim as one of the league’s best punt returners. His being named first-team All-Pro cements that as fact. Agnew need not do anything more in his career than maintain his standing among the game’s best punt returners for him to be a big win for Bob Quinn with a fifth round pick.

Kiper held his C+ grade steady for the Lions with the draft now a year in the past. It’s hard to feel he did anything more than confirm his own biases while conveniently omitting contributions made by guys outside of the first two days of the draft. Writing off what someone like Jeremiah Ledbetter was able to flash as he earned some rotational time on the Lions’ defensive line might be excusable. Ignoring an All-Pro performance is absolutely not.

UPDATE: Kiper has confessed his sin.

"Cornerback Jamal Agnew played only 65 defensive snaps but starred as a punt returner, averaging 15.4 yards per return with two touchdowns and being named first-team All-Pro. (Sorry, Lions fans, I accidentally omitted Agnew on the first iteration of these re-grades.)"

Next: Predicting what the Lions will do in the 2018 NFL Draft

Good, now say my name.