The Lions were slated to pick #3 in Rd 4, but opened the round by trading back from 109 to 121 and picking up a 5th (172) for the effort. The raiders drafted OG John Simpson, with the Lions likely to still be targeting one of the kids they coached in the Senior Bowl.

One of the benefits teams have from a bad season (and assuming they do not fire their coaching staff) is getting an invite to be one of the two teams to coach the Senior Bowl in Mobile. The Lions and Bengals were the beneficiaries this year, and with the COVID-19 virus putting a halt to much of the offseason, that coaching experience has been proving invaluable to the Lions. While the first three selections (Okudah, Swift and Okwara) were all Juniors and didn't play in the game, the Lions did trade up for Jonah Jackson, OG from tOSU as a direct result of coaching him in Mobile. Where the coaching comes into play is on Day 3, where instead of taking flyers on kids they may have seen at the combine or possibly got in a pro-day before they were shut down, the Lions have a whole pool of kids they already coached to choose from. With the expectation that they will add a WR, DL, OL and likely a P, here is a short list of kids the Lions coached and the potential round they could be grabbed in: 4th Round Antonio Gandy-Golden WR Liberty KJ Hill WR Ohio State Bradlee Anae EDGE Utah 5th Round Jason Strowbridge DE/DT North Carolina Ben Bredeson OG Michigan 6th Round Kenny Willekes DE Michgan State Darrion Daniel DT Nebraska 7th Round Braden Mann P Texas A&M

Jonah Jackson The Ohio State Profile The Lions decided to take their extra 3rd Rd pick a bit early by engineering a trade with the Indianapolis Colts to move up from 85 to #75 to take OG Jonah Jackson from The Ohio State University. The move cost them their 5a (149) and 6th (182) but they did get back a later 6th (197) . That leave the Lions with one pick in every round still to pick up depth at WR and DT and possibly P. As for Jackson, he fills a glaring need for the Lions with a young developmental interior OL that could possibly challenge for a starting position during the season. The Lions coached him at the Senior Bowl, and traded up quiet a bit to get him, so they have plans in place.

Okwara Profile at Notre Dame Okwara Stats at ESPN The Lions are close to acing this draft, picking up players at position of need in Rds 1 and 2,a nd now they appear to have done it again with their 1st Rds 3 pick. With that selection, they took Notre Dame DE Julian Okwara, the younger brother of Lions DE Romeo Okwara. Okwara is a bit undersized in weight at 250, but has great height at 6'4" and ran a 4.6 40 and was on a trajectory to become a Rd 1 prospect prior to breaking his leg.

D'Andre Swift Georgia Profile Swift's Career Stats ESPN In a bit of a surprise with the WR and DL talent still on the board, the Lions drafted Georgia Junior RB D'Andre Swift. Swift will fill a need as a do everything back and likely becomes the immediate #2 back on the roster behind Kerryon Johnson and alongside Bo Scarborough and Ty Johnson. While RB was not a desperate need, having an injury prone 2nd, 7th and 6th rounders as your primary core was not the best way to go into the season.

The Lions took who many expected in Rd 1 in CB Jeff Okudah of The Ohio State University. With Rd 2 and 3 being hosted tonight, there are plenty of rumors swirling around who the Lions will take with their 3 picks. Check them out below, as I will keep a running log through out the day. My Take: Rothstein seems to be taking the logical approach (something I agree with) that these positions are not only BPA, but also fills a need for the Lions. Not sure the order of these players, but I suspect at least 2 of the 3 picks tonight will come from these four categories. My Take: Jeff Risdon, Managing Editor at The Lions Wire shares my sentiment that Lions are taking Hurts or any QB at #35. My Take: LOL No way in hell the Lions burn the #3 pick in Rd 2 on a QB, let alone any Rd 3 pick. Blough was acquired via trade, Stafford and Chase Daniel are under contract for at least two more years. There are simply too many holes on the roster and lack of depth that is needed to take a QB anywhere on Day 2. My Take: Not sure who the Lions will take at the top of rd 2 with the #3 (35) pick. Most likely it will be a combo of BPA and team need, so it could be DE, WR, RB, OG or DT/Edge. If I had to guess, they will go DL, RB or WR as that is where the value is at. I think that with the Okudah pick, Trufant signing and Harmon Trade, we may not select another DB in this draft unless someone graded in Rd 1 or 2 falls all the way to Rd 4.

After the Lions selected Jeffrey Okudah last night with the #3 overall pick and contemplated moving back up into the late 1st, who will they look at with the # 3 pick in Round 2 ? There is still a lot of talent available. I would even say 1st Rd talent. Below is a quick rundown on the players the Lions may be taking a look at based on Need and BPA: A.J. Epenesa, Edge (Iowa) Yetur Gross-Matos, Edge (Penn St) Marlon Davidson, Edge (Auburn) Ross Blacklock, DT (TCU) Zack Baun, LB (Wisconsin) D'Andre Swift, RB (Georgia) Jonathan Taylor, RB (Wisconsin) Laviska Shenault, WR (Colorado) Joshua Jones, OT (Houston) Personally I would be looking at the Defensive Line. Epenesa has the tape but his Combine workout left something to be desired. YGM would be a great complement opposite Trey Flowers and Blacklock would also fill a need for a Pass Rushing DT. However it is hard to overlook the talent and value at the RB position. The Lions can have their choice of any of the remaining RB's (Swift,Taylor, Dobbins). They also need to pick up a serviceable WR either in the 2nd or 3rd round as they have no WR under contract beyond 2020. Again it should be another fun night, as Bob Quinn has hinted again, that he would not be opposed to move down for the right offer.

Okudah’s Profile at The Ohio State University Okudah’s Career Stats at ESPN The Detroit Lions selected Jefferey Okudah, CB, from The Ohio State University with their first round pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Okudah was the consensus top CB available after a stellar career at Ohio State where he declared for the draft after an outstanding Junior season. Most mock drafts had the Lions taking Okudah at #3 or as part of a trade back at #5 with the Miami Dolphins. However the Lions held firm at #3 and took the consensus #1 CB. The pick was pretty much a forgone conclusion once the Lions traded away CB Darius Slay to the Eagles on March 19th for a 3rd and 5th Rd picks and after signing Desmond Trufant the day before in Free Agency. Prior to drafting Okudah, the Lions were slated to have Trufant at one side, Justin Coleman in the slot and likely last year’s 5th round choice Amani Oruwariye on the other side after he showed promise near the end of last season. The other options were likely Interior DL Derrick Brown of Auburn and possibly LB/S Isiah Simmons of Clemson, as the Lions were not in the market for a QB or OT that will dominate the Top 10 of the draft.

Like many of you, this Covid-19 virus has turned pretty much everything upside down. I touched on how the draft will bring a bit of normalcy earlier this week, but l wanted to reflect on what was originally the plans for this draft weekend and how a single announcement and fate saved me from a lot of hassle. After watching from afar as the draft went to Philly, Chicago and Nashville, I got the bright idea to try and head out to Las Vegas this year with some friends and knock an item off my bucket list. I am very familiar with the city, having attended the annual CES convention in January for many years, so I ma used to being around a boatload of people and having prices sky high. Move forward to late last summer, and we had our group all committed to attending and we were in the process of waiting on the booking window for airfare and accommodations to open up to cement our trip. That's when things started going sideways. One of the original foursome was worried about his job and was looking to buy a house, so he pulled out. Fine, we would go with three. Nope, another one lets me know that his wife had scheduled to be out of town on a girls weekend the same time (mind you we had this penciled in the books for months prior to this) so that pretty much gave our #4 the excuse needed to back out as well. They all wanted to go to Cleveland in 2021 instead (WTF is there to do in Cleveland in late April?) because of cost and proximity, so we ended up scrapping our plans prior to anyone committing financially. At this point, I was pretty much relegated to the fact that Vegas wasn't happening, and Cleveland in 2021 was gonna be the bucket list checkmark. Then my wife surprised me in early January and offered for just the two of us to go, or meet up with fellow Grey Manes partner Brent and his wife. This rekindled the idea and I was ready to pull the trigger on the airfare when two things happened in rapid succession. The NFL announced the official dates of the draft (which were "known", but not official) on January 21st, and then the Covid-19 rumblings started up a few weeks later. The announcement of the dates triggered the events that led to fate keeping me from having to deal with a whole lot of crap to cancel my plans. As soon as the NFL announcement confirming the dates hit, the next day the flights in and out of Las Vegas that route through my city doubled, literally while I was looking at them. What was once around $450 round trip Non-Stop suddenly was pushing $800 bucks. Not wanting to pull the trigger during high demand, I waited to see if there would be some reductions in the coming weeks before I committed to that much for two tickets for us. At that point, fate intervened and Covid-19 rumblings, shutdown rumors and impacts started dominating the news cycle. Once that started, the decision to cancel completely without having invested any money was made, and Cleveland in 2021 or possibly even Las Vegas again in 2022 will be the next goal.

It is finally here, what us Lions fans have affectionately called our Super Bowl. The 20920 NFL Draft is upon us and below are some of the basics to keep in mind for the draft dates, times and where you can follow it. When Rd 1: Tonight, Thursday April 23rd starting at 8:00PM EST Rd 2: Friday, April 24th starting at 7:00 PM EST Rd 3: Saturday, April 25th starting at 12:00PM EST TV Coverage ABC ESPN NFL Network Current Detroit Lions Picks: Rd 1: #3 (3) Rd 2: #3 (35) Rd 3: #3 (67) Rd 3: #21 (85) - From PHI for Darius Slay Rd 4: #3 (109) Rd 5: #3 (149) Rd 5: #21 (166) - From PHI for Darius Slay Rd 6: #3 (182) Rd 7: #21 (235) - From PHI via NE part of Duron Harmon Trade

Tonight, is the Detroit Lions Super Bowl – The NFL Draft. I think the Lions fans enjoy this night/weekend more than most other teams’ fans. Not only because of the lack of success but it brings hope to an otherwise dim outlook, and the Lions have one of the best and most loyal Fanbases in the NFL. On to the draft and in particular the #3 Overall pick. As I write this there are several rumors concerning the Lions trading out of their current position to anywhere from the #5, #7 and #9 picks. My preference would be to trade and gain some much-needed draft capital. We will evaluate the trade when/if it occurs. I will say this right up front – I am a huge Isiah Simmons fan. He is unlike any other player we have seen in the NFL, perhaps ever. He can play End, OLB, Safety and if needed he could even play DB, I mean he is faster than Jerry Juedy!! He also brings another factor into the mix – In this age of versatility and roster limits he is 3 extra players on a 53-man roster. I would personally take him at # 3, but my biggest concern is would Coach Patricia use him in a creative fashion?? We have all heard that he does not change his scheme much and most players have a defined role. This would needlessly box in a great athlete. Just my .02 Let us look at a few different scenarios. If the Lions are not able to trade back and stay at #3 conventional wisdom and most prognosticators are projecting CB Jeffrey Okudah to the Lions. I would not be unhappy if it plays out this way. I think Okudah has a chance to be a really good to great CB in the NFL. He has all the measurables and fills a position of need. It may be a bit high for a CB (how many CB’s taken in the top 5 have won a Super Bowl in the last 15 years??). Derrick Brown at #3 I would not be happy with. Typically, I am a fan of drafting the Big Uglies early and often, however at the #3 spot and the DT position, the player better be the equivalent of Ndamukong Suh or Aaron Donald. Brown is neither. He is a solid DT that is great at stopping the run. His pass rush ability while not great is good. I just feel he does not bring the talent level that coincides with the #3 overall pick. I am really hoping the Lions trade down and they would potentially have a shot at these same 3 players. The Miami Dolphins are the Wildcard and will steer the Draft into one direction or another. If the Lions stay at #3 I think the pick will be Jeffrey Okudah, if they trade back every option is open to them. It is going to be fun either way!

2020 NFL Draft Tailgate Special Not only do we like to talk about Football and the Lions we also like food, and in particular BBQ. Until this year I was a Competitive BBQ Cook. I would travel around the Midwest doing BBQ comps on most weekends from May-October. We will share some recipes and tips from time to time that you can do in your backyard or at your next tailgate. For the Draft I have come up with an easy yet unique menu to get you through the weekend of watching the Draft. Appetizer This one goes way back in the BBQ world; we call it a Moink Ball. It is a bacon wrapped meatball that you can smoke or grill and is a very flavor bite. Your will need: 1 lb of your favorite bacon. Try to stay away from thick cut as it takes longer to cook 1 1lb bag of traditional meatballs. Do not use Italian Style 1 Shaker of your favorite bbq rub. I use a rub called Smoking Guns Hot. 1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce. I use Blues Hog Original Toothpicks, enough for the amount of meatballs you have Directions: Cut the bacon into thirds (measure using a meatball and wrap a full piece of bacon around it once to get the length you need) Wrap the bacon around the meatball and stick a toothpick through the bacon and meatball so it is all the way through. The toothpick will hold the bacon on the meatball. Do this for all the meatballs that you want to make. Using your favorite rub, season the meatballs and bacon on all sides. Once you do that set aside and fire up your grill or smoker. I like to throw a chunk of Cherry wood into the fire right before I put the meatballs on. The trick here is to get the bacon done the consistency you like. I like using the indirect method on my Weber Kettle and shoot for about 350 degrees. I put the moinks on a tray with holes in the bottom, they are made to grill veggies so they don’t fall through the grates. This work sperfect for the moinks. I place the tray on the cool side of the grill and shut the lid. I check them about every 15 minutes and give them a little turn. Once the bacon is done to the consistency that you like (some like it more crisp than others), usually around 30 minutes or so (the meatballs are pre-cooked so they just need to be heated through to at least 140 degrees) get your favorite sauce and a brush and glaze the sauce onto the moinks. Be sure and get all sides. Once that is done close the lid and let the sauce tack up real good for about 5-10 minutes. Pull them out, let them cool off a bit and dig in!! You have made Moink Balls. You can serve with a bowl of bbq sauce for extra dipping. Main Course (sort of) Grilled/Smoke Bologna – This takes plain ole bologna and turns it into a flavor explosion!! You will need: 1 1lb chunk of bologna. You need uncut bologna. You can usually find this in your grocery store in the cold cuts section, if not ask the deli for a 1 lb chunk 1 shaker of your favorite bbq rub – For this I use Butcher BBQ Wild Cherry Rub 1 bottle of your favorite bbq sauce – For this I use Blues Hog Original BBQ Sauce Directions: You can put your knife skills to work here and score your chunk of bologna down the length of the chunk several times and then score around the chunk if you would like or you can leave it whole. Season the chunk of bologna (remember to take the covering off if there is one) with your favorite rub. Using the same method as above for the moink balls, put the chunk of bologna on the grill again using the indirect method. I am looking for 350 degrees, if I was doing this in a smoker, I would be at 250 degrees and it would be fine, it would just take a little bit longer. The time it takes to cook will vary but since it is already cooked, I go by color, usually after about an hour I have reached the color I am looking for. Glaze the bologna with the bbq sauce, again making sure to cover the whole piece of bologna. Let it tack up on the grill for 5-10 minutes. You can cut it up into smaller chunks for snacking or I like to cut a nice thick piece off and while my grill is still hot put it right on the grill and grill it up for a few minutes each side, put a piece of cheese on it and make fried bologna sandwiches. These are not your mom’s sandwiches!! Dessert Grilled Strawberry Shortcake – The grilled shortcake adds a whole new layer of flavor. This is actually a pretty simple dessert, use your favorite strawberry shortcake recipe to make the strawberry mix (strawberries and sugar usually). But use an Angel food cake for the cake piece. You will need: Strawberry Mix Angel Food Cake Whipped Topping Again, using your grill and setup for indirect cooking at around 350 degrees – slice the angel food cake into the sizes you want to serve. Place the angel food cake pieces (1 or 2 pieces at a time) on the grill near the fire, not directly on top but near. This will go fast so stay alert. Once you get a good golden brown color on one side (about 30 – 45 seconds) turn to the other side and so on. The grill will caramelize the sugars in the Angel Food Cake. Pull from the grill and cover with the Strawberries and whipped topping and enjoy!!