Detroit Lions' late draft picks, Packers' trash talk made this NFL combine feel different
Felt different at the NFL combine this year for the Detroit Lions, didn’t it?
It should. Two playoff wins and a trip to the NFC championship game will do that. So will having two All-Pros and seven Pro Bowlers.
Those accomplishments and honors are signifiers of how the Lions transformed from plucky underdog and reality TV curiosity in 2022 into a bona fide Super Bowl contender in 2023 and, certainly, now in 2024.
But maybe the best example of how much the perception about the Lions has changed came from the conference rooms and corridors in Indianapolis. It’s here, away from the bright lights and megaphonic platforms of televised press conferences at Lucas Oil Stadium, where coaches and personnel people are more comfortable telling reporters how they really feel.
On Tuesday morning, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, really told Green Bay beat writers how he felt about the Lions and their 2023 NFC North championship banner.
“Winning the division is nice because you’re going to secure a home playoff game,” he said, via the Athletic, “but for me, around here, we’ve never hung banners for division championships, so it’s never been about that. It’s a nice starting point, but I think we’re always looking for bigger things.”
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And just like that, you can bet several extra boxes of Sharpies and yellow markers were ordered at Allen Park headquarters so that every person could circle and highlight the date the Packers arrive at Ford Field this season.
First, it isn’t much of a coincidence that Gutekunst prefers to downplay division titles because he hasn’t won one since he got a contract extension before the 2022 season. But what his trash talk really underscores is his level of insecurity over how much ground the Lions, the longtime runt of the litter that used to only nip at the leaders’ heels, have gained while passing the former perennial top dog of the division.
The thing is, the top dog never worries about the runt, as long as the runt remains the runt. But once the top dog has been toppled, he has two choices: Work hard to figure out how the runt did this and make up ground, or do the easy and lazy thing and try to trip up the erstwhile runt with some head games.
Either way, the fact Gutekunst revealed his green- (and gold) eyed inner monster can’t be viewed as anything but a compliment for the Lions and their success.
But now the Lions find themselves trying to permanently establish themselves as the new Packers and will get to find out like the Packers did for so many years, how to win in the margins. The Lions have the 29th overall pick in the NFL draft, marking the first time since 2018 they won’t have a top-10 pick.
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The Packers haven’t had a top-10 pick since they selected defensive tackle B.J. Raji ninth in 2009. But that same year, they took six-time Pro Bowler Clay Mathews early in the second round, then found some dude named T.J. Lang in the fourth round.
General manager Brad Holmes recently tried to play up the “fun” factor of picking later (yeah, right), but admitted a top-10 pick is hard to mess up.
“You’ve got really good players and you’re trying to decide between Turks and Caicos and Grand Cayman,” he told WXYT-FM (97.1 in Detroit). “You’re probably not going to be mad at either one.”
I can only imagine if a top-10 pick is akin to a paradisaical getaway, the 29th pick is like going to Green Bay in February, where it’s “fun” to sample the exotic cuisine of Arby’s, Taco Bell, or Arby’s. (It’s going to be Arby’s, and the cheese sauce isn’t optional.)
You can take two views of the Lions’ draft options this year, where they pick late in the first two rounds but have two picks in the third round. You can choose to believe a team coming off an NFC title game appearance doesn’t need that much help getting a little better, so a hit or miss isn’t the end of the world.
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Or you can believe Holmes must find more golden nuggets like Brian Branch and Amon-Ra St. Brown to fill out the holes on the roster, since the Lions have pretty much ruled out paying top dollar for free agents, or adding one at the trade deadline.
The Lions have a lot of good players in place in key positions, so I don’t know hitting or missing on one late first-round pick (could be Frank Ragnow or could be Jarrad Davis) will seal their fate this season.
But I have to imagine it’s going to be harder than ever for them to remain the division’s lead dog with worse picks and a harder schedule. Now the Lions just have to continue to prove the road to the NFC North title runs through Detroit, and not Green Bay or the Caribbean.
Contact Carlos Monarrez: cmonarrez@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @cmonarrez.
Feeling a draft?
What: 2024 NFL draft.
Where: Detroit.
The schedule: Round 1 — 8 p.m. April 25; Rounds 2-3 — 7 p.m. April 26; Rounds 4-7 — Noon.
TV: ABC, ESPN, NFL Network.
Lions’ picks (with overall pick in parentheses): Round 1 — No. 29 (29); Round 2 — No. 29 (61); Round 3 — No. 9 (73), No. 29 (92); Round 5 — No. 29 (163); Round 6 — No. 29 (207); Round 7 — No. 29 (247).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Green Bay Packers' trash talk actually a compliment to Detroit Lions
