By: Alex LaGrone
The Detroit Lions made a surprise pick in the NFL draft by selecting North Carolina's top receiver, TE Eric Ebron. Many felt the Lions should have focused on their secondary which was ranked 23rd against the pass. The Lions will face some of the top quarterbacks in the division in Green Bay's Aaron Rogers and Chicago Bears Jay Cutler.
The Lions secondary is either injury prone, lacks depth, older or unproven. The Lions did reach out and picked cornerback Nevin Lawson from Utah St. in the fourth round. Nevin who? They passed up on Michigan St. highly touted cornerback, Darqueze Dennard. Denard was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals on the very next pick after the Lion's selection of Ebron.
Make no mistake, the Lions do need a pass catching TE; but to have a defense that had trouble stopping teams from running up and down the field just won't cut it. Now that all the best defensive secondary free agents have been signed, it appears the Lions made no significant upgrade in that much needed area.
Overall, the Lions did not have a bad draft. But, they did not have a great one either. The Lions did address the defense by adding BYU linebacker Kyle Van Noy. He is a pass-rusher and more than likely will start as a rookie. Lawson is 5'9" and has some speed, but his height could become an issue. By the way, there was not a mention of adding a safety either. The Lions improved a bit, but not in the area they needed the most.
