NFL Draft 2018: Detroit Lions seven-round mock draft 4.0

Round 5

Another linebacker after already taking Lorenzo Carter in the third round, especially with a “luxury” pick at the top and other needs left to be filled? Yes!

Here’s the thing about the NFL Draft: so much time is spent by fans and media learning, analyzing, theorizing that more often than not we trick ourselves into thinking we know more than we really know. Then the actual draft takes place and unexpected things happen and that somehow means team X did things incorrectly.

NFL teams are obviously not infallible – quite the opposite, in fact – but that doesn’t mean doing the unconventional or unexpected is necessarily wrong.

I think those of us outside of real draft war rooms place an over-emphasis on immediate needs at the expense of what is really the best decision for two, three or four years in the future.

If the best use of free agency is to plug short-term gaps, and the best use of the draft is to do what is best long-term, then doubling down with a Devon Kennard-Christian Jones free agency and a Lorenzo Carter-Genard Avery draft starts to make more sense.

It’s a matter of roster-building philosophy. Some will agree while others disagree. That’s OK, we can still be internet friends.