Ah, draft season. It’s that time of year again when a new crop of fresh young losers faces will have to fake excitement when they get to walk onto a stage (or a Zoom screen) in front of the world and put on a Lions hat. They know in their hearts that this is going to end poorly. It always has.

But this is the first draft of the MAN CAMPBELL era. So maybe, just maybe, a new breed of lion will be prowling the unholy grounds of Ford Field in 2021.

Good thing opposing GMs don’t need their kneecaps to call in their draft selections, because those will have already been bitten off.

In all seriousness, it is a welcome change of pace to hear Dan Campbell’s enthusiasm and vision for the direction of this franchise. He’s leaning hard into all the classic Detroit cliches like “grit”, “blue-collar”, and “pride”. But those very cliches were attributes clearly lacking during the Bob Quinn/Matt Patricia regime. As eye-roll-inducing as they may sound to many – I eat that stuff up, with a side of “putting on your hardhat” – an identity needs to be in place before the Lions will be “winning” anything but another top-10 draft pick.

Like last season, I will be cross-referencing the Lions’ draft selections against Pro Football Focus’ rankings, an industry-wide Consensus Big Board, and the rankings of The Athletic’s draft guru Dane Brugler (who put on an absolute clinic in his final 2021 Rd. 1 mock exercise). Each offered some unique utility when analyzing Detroit’s 2020 selections: The consensus ranking had D’Andre Swift as the No. 22 overall player in the draft and a steal for Detroit in Round 2, PFF loved John Penisini and his huge dong upside at DT in Round 6, and pretty much all of ’em hated flushing a fifth-rounder down the toilet by taking a second running back in Jason Huntley at No. 172 (he was cut after training camp, because of course he was).

That’s enough for the preamble. Let’s see what Campbell and first-year GM Brad Holmes cooked up on Day 1 of the 2021 NFL Draft, in which the Lions held the seventh overall selection and needed…uh…pretty much everything.

Round 1 (7): Penei Sewell – OT – Oregon

Consensus Big Board: 3 | PFF Ranking: 4 | Brugler Rank: 5 (OT#1)

Pretty much my ideal Round 1 scenario (non-trade back edition, because that’s always the play) came to fruition when the Lions took the young Samoan to shore up the right side (for now) of their offensive line. Why was Sewell my ideal pick? How about a one-line endorsement from Brugler’s scouting guide:

“(Sewell) projects as an immediate NFL starter at left tackle with Pro Bowl potential”

High praise indeed. But PFF would like a word of their own:

“Sewell earned the highest single-season grade we have ever given to a college offensive tackle”

Simply put, in a world where “can’t miss” prospects miss all the time, this kid – literally, he’ll be 20 when he takes his first NFL snap – is about as low-risk/high-reward as you are going to find. The perfect starting point for the lengthy rebuilding road that lies ahead (but do rebuilds ever really end in this town?).

There will surely be a segment of people out there that think the Lions’ new regime should have started their rebuild by finding their long-term answer at the most important position in sports. Because make no mistake, Jared Goff ain’t it. And they had a damn good opportunity staring them in the face in the form of OSU’s Justin Fields, PFF’s No. 3 overall player in the draft. When the Lions traded my guy Matthew Stafford for Goff and a treasure trove of picks back in February I was pretty sure that Goff was nothing more than a very expensive bridge (those gold-plated reinforcement beams really do a number on the final invoice). As time has passed that opinion has only strengthened. But the Lions’ timeline for finding the “answer” at QB is currently dictated by Goff’s bloated contract. They can’t realistically part ways with Goff until 2023 without massive cap implications. Bringing in a rookie QB now would result in too much of an overlap with Goff.

Having a high-level QB on a rookie contract is the cheat code to getting good quickly in the NFL. So, while finding the right QB is the most important part of the equation, finding them at the right time and having a foundation in place for them to hit the ground running are not insignificant factors. While Fields absolutely has a chance to be great, the stars simply did not align in this case. I have no problem with the Lions kicking the future QB can down the road another year. This team will be drafting near the top of the draft again in 2022. There will be more opportunities, and likely better ones, to find the next Matthew Stafford. Slow ride. Take it easy. – Foghat

Speaking of having a foundation in place for the QB of the future, the Sewell pick goes a long way toward building it. Up front the Lions now have a Frank Ragnow sandwich with Taylor Decker and Sewell as the very thick slices of bread. There’s a slice of Hal Vaitai in there somewhere but you can just take it off and throw it out if you don’t like it (maybe give it to the dog, since that is expensive meat). The Lions don’t have many strengths, but the offensive line sure is starting to sound like one.

For the record, while landing Sewell at No. 7 was my top realistic selection, my dream scenario would have been trading back 2-3 spots and taking WR DeVonta Smith. I wouldn’t have been mad if they took him at No. 7 either. The Eagles ended up landing him at No. 10 after trading up to get him. I know the guy weighs less than me after a night of league bowling and a way too late-night Taco Bell excursion (slight exaggeration). But there’s just something about that guy. Dude just won the Heisman and has 38 TDs in his last 26 games. Hasn’t missed a game since 2018. Yet he nearly fell out of the top-10 purely for size concerns. I’d take that guy and the chip on his shoulder any day.

All in all, a satisfying Day 1. My thirst for competent management is momentarily quenched.

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