HireWayne

April 29th, 2017 at 1:18 PM ^

So Stafford's new "weapons" are guys from a conference that went 0-6 in the bowl season last year. 

I know these drafts take a long time to play out but this draft is not rallying the Lions faithful.

uofmchris

April 29th, 2017 at 1:19 PM ^

With all due respect for Butt, the kid out of Toledo has been making some serious noise as of late. I am out here in Denver, and the city might be on full fire alert as Elway keeps passing on TE. Pretty much everyone out here wants Butt.

stephenrjking

April 29th, 2017 at 1:31 PM ^

Butt's injury hurts him; so does his blocking, where he is a minus in the category. We compare his receiving favorably with a lot of the best in the NFL, but guys like Gronk are also great blockers.

And great blocking is part of what makes a good TE so dangerous, because you have to put defenders on the field that can hold up to the run AND cover the guy. When Butt is on the field NFL teams don't need to fear his blocking.

Mr. Yost

April 29th, 2017 at 1:35 PM ^

Mel and McShay both just said he was a potential 1st, definite 2nd rounder. I think anyone antsy about Jake Butt is in the right on this one.

Fournette's catching is a minus and he went #4.

All players have weaknesses.

His injury is the reason he's fallen this far, it has nothing to do with blocking or any other part of his game.

stephenrjking

April 29th, 2017 at 1:38 PM ^

Oh, his injury is a huge factor. But I think the fact that his main value lies in one area (one more likely to be affected by injury, since he needs agility and vertical to be able to function well, and of course characteristics that couldn't be measured) hurts him more than if he was more of an average combination of blocking and catching.

Perkis-Size Me

April 29th, 2017 at 1:46 PM ^

Glasgow off the board.

I'm not sure we'll break the record today but it could happen. DeVeon, Chesson, Butt, and Stribling all have good shots of being drafted.

stephenrjking

April 29th, 2017 at 1:51 PM ^

Hopefully the Chiefs are smarter at football than I am. 

Rich Eisen with a shout-out to Brady Hoke for bringing a lot of these guys in for Harbaugh to develop.

stephenrjking

April 29th, 2017 at 1:55 PM ^

So the tally for Michigan is 2 offensive guys (both starting wideouts) and 7 defenders. So far.

Will Michigan get a guy drafted from its mediocre OL? Will Stribling get a late-round flyer? Will someone like Deveon's power / blocking combination? 

And who, finally, will pick Jake Butt?

stephenrjking

April 29th, 2017 at 2:15 PM ^

Note that I am asking questions from a Michigan perspective, not making predictions. And those questions come, basically, from media "best available player" lists that have Smith and Braden in the top 100 of that category.

Honestly I'm surprised Stribling is so low. I would think he'd be a better pick than anyone else Michigan fielded on offense, but I don't make big money evaluating talent, either.

It's not inconceivable that Michigan has nobody picked the rest of the day. It's also possible that two or three other guys get calls.

Mr. Yost

April 29th, 2017 at 2:13 PM ^

Peppers didn't pass on the draft!!! My God! Do your homework Trey, you're usually awesome with the tidbits, but that's a huge mistake.