Detroit Lions: Six Players to Target in the 2020 NFL Draft
By Bob Heyrman
Andrew Thomas
The Detroit Lions need to continue to upgrade their offensive line, look no further than Georgia’s Andrew Thomas.
The junior left tackle is merely spectacular. He’s by far the best tackle in the draft. He’d slide right in and immediately start for the Detroit Lions. Selecting Thomas would leave the Lions with a few options.
Do they move on from former first-round pick and current starter Taylor Decker? After a slow start to the season mostly due to a lower-back injury, he’s rebounded very well grading out as a top-eight LT in the league. Andrew Thomas already plays in a pro-style offense with the Bulldogs and is a tremendous run blocker.
Perhaps Detroit decides to insert Thomas at right tackle, replacing Rick Wagner. The Lions signed Wagner in free agency from the Baltimore Ravens. At the time of the signing, it was widely regarded as an excellent acquisition for the Lions but just hasn’t worked out. This year Wagner graded out as one of the worst RT’s in football.
Detroit could ease Thomas in playing as a right tackle with Decker already in place protecting Matthew Stafford‘s blindside, but he could walk right in and dominate as a starting LT.
If the Lions indeed drafted Thomas and wanted to strictly shed cap space, Taylor Decker will be the tackle who gets cut. By cutting Decker, the team will save $10,350,000 with no dead money occurring.
If the Lions decide to draft Thomas and want to put the best possible product on the field, they will cut Rick Wagner whos cap number is a whopping $13.4 million. The issue is, by cutting Rick, the team will only save $6.1 million, and $5.8 million in dead money will transpire.
So does Martha Firestone Ford care about winning, or is it just the teams’ bottom line fascinate her more?
Only time will tell.