[Honolulu_Blue]

It's been a few weeks now since the Draft and the dust has settled...

The day or so before the draft, I started to come down with something. I was pretty congested, not feeling great, but not terrible either. The Friday night of the second and third rounds that took a turn and I came down with a fever. That soon became a full on viral infection and that turned into a bacterial infection with a full week of massive headaches and congestion. This was only the second time I've been sick in over five years.

I mention that, because it feels like a physical manifestation of the Lions post-draft vibes. No team seemed to be riding higher than the Lions coming into the draft. They had that great run at the end of last year, had a very solid free agency period, they retained Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn, and had the promise of a healthy Jameson Williams (more of this later) for the season - a huge potential boost for the offense. Those vibes have taken quite the turn.

It really started with the announcement of the Jameson Williams six game suspension. That led to criticism of his maturity level, stuff he posted to social media and doubts about his long term future began (I think unfairly) to manifest. There was even his desire to get the #1 jersey after Okudah left that was denied, because someone else took it. The vibes around Jameson Williams started to sour.

Then, as we all know, there was the draft - particularly the first round - where the Lions stunned everyone by using their big time draft capital to take Gibbs, a running back, and Jack Campell, an off-ball linebacker, with their top two picks. Both players were seen not only as reaches, but as reaches at non-premium positions. Both NFL Twitter/Hipsters and old school NFL folks largely ripped the Lions for this.

The criticism of the Lions draft seemed to wane a bit after rounds 2 and 3, mainly because they drafted Brian Branch in the middle of the second round.

The criticism now is that the Lions don't know how to properly team build. They made moves that could set them up for 2023, but really don't put them in a great position for long term success. They are talking about extending Jared Goff, who NFL Twitter/Hipsters generally hate and think is the poster boy for a mediocre old-school, stationary NFL QB.

There is the belief that the Lions should have taken their draft capital this year and parlayed that into a high-end QB of the future, because they won't likely be drafting this high again. I am not sure about that. I think it's safe to say that they had no shot at getting Bryce Young, which means they would have had to trade up to 2 or 3 overall to get either Stroud (who seems like a younger, slightly more athletic Goff) or Richardson. I don't think drafting Levis would have been the big swing/improvement people wanted and the Lions managed to get the consensus 4th best QB (Hooker) in the 3rd round. So, I really think this comes down to the Lions not moving up for Richardson.

As exciting and interesting as Richardson is and as a high a ceiling he appears to have, I am just not sure I agree with the criticism here. It would have cost them a lot, wouldn't have really helped the team at all this year, and may have blown up in their face. Then again, it's possible that drafting him would have given this franchise juice the likes of which it hasn't had in the modern era and the notion that the Lions would have given up 6 and 18 (or one of their second rounders) for Richardson a slam dunk.

The Lions are, also, getting heavily criticized for dumping Swift and Williams for Montgomery and Gibbs. Many see this as a lateral move, at best, on the field and a more expensive option off it. I know the Lions see it very differently. They feel like Williams left a ton of yards on the field and Swift did as well. Also, Swift was always hurt.

It will be really interesting to see how this all shakes out. Did Holmes make the right call in drafting Gibbs and Campbell as high as he did? Is LaPorta (who was the unanimous star of the Lions rookie mini-camp last weekend) a much better talent than Mayer and Musgrave? Is Brodic Martn another one of Holmes' gems like James Houston and Malcolm Rodriguez?

The vibes for the Lions aren't great right now. I know it was has nothing to do with it, but when you add in the Wings not moving up in the draft lottery and the Pistons falling to 5th overall, the overall off-season Detroit sports vibes pretty much suck.

I've been in a low-grade panic mode since the first round.

Though, luckily I finally got antibiotics about 10 days ago for my sinus infection and feel great! So, maybe things will turn around.