The Detroit Lions have so many needs on both sides of the ball that they say there’s no one position they’ll address with the second pick in the April draft. So they’re going with a “best player available” draft philosophy -- just as long as the best player available isn’t a quarterback.
“Obviously, we wouldn’t take a quarterback with the second overall pick at this point, so there’s some common sense in there,” Lions General Manager Martin Mayhew said, per the Detroit Free Press. “But we want to continue to add talented players, no matter what side of the ball those guys play on or what their positions are.”
Last year the Lions selected the player they hope is their franchise quarterback for years to come, Matthew Stafford. This year, depending on who’s left after the Rams pick first, most analysts expect Detroit to select a defensive tackle (either Ndamukong Suh or Gerald McCoy) or an offensive tackle (probably Russell Okung).
But Mayhew says it’s just about finding good players, period.
“Philosophically, our position hasn’t changed,” Mayhew said. “We want to look for the best players we can find without regard to what side of the ball that they play, what position that they play.”