The Detroit Lions may be switching quarterbacks for 2021 going from Matthew Stafford to Jared Goff, but it doesn’t necessarily prevent them from hiring a signal caller early in this year’s draft.
General manager Brad Holmes, who is not yet allowed to discuss the Stafford-Goff trade until it can become official when the new league year begins on March 17, said on Tuesday that he likes what he sees from this quarterback draft class.
“The quarterback position in general, what’s cool about this year is that they all come in different flavors,” said Holmes. “You have a guy who can really do it all, do it from his pocket, do it with his legs. You have another guy who probably does it a little bit more with his legs, be a little more creative. There’s another one. man probably puts it out of pocket more.
“So all the different flavors make it very, very intriguing when you look at the whole class of these quarterbacks.”
Holmes said several times during his press conference on Tuesday that he liked this concept class of quarterbacks, headlined by Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Justin Fields of Ohio and Zach Wilson of BYU.
And if you pick in the top 10, he said, you can’t overlook any position. That includes a place that is undergoing major changes for Detroit. Goff, will hit a cap of $ 28.15 million in 2021 and $ 26.15 million by 2022, according to OverTheCap.com. $ 25 million in base pay will restructure once he officially becomes part of the franchise. But it is not known whether they will.
Plus Stafford now counts as $ 19 million in dead money at this year’s limit for Detroit.
What does that have to do with drafting a quarterback at number 7? It may depend on how the team sees Goff in the long run – something the team has not yet been allowed to speak publicly – and what they think of the quarterbacks in this class.
“If you pick in the Top 10 I don’t think you can ignore it and I think it’s smart to sign anyway, if you pick in the Top 10 make sure you know that quarterback class well, Holmes said.
However, Holmes was quick to say that he doesn’t believe you can look beyond any position in drafting into the Top 10 and that if you pick that high one, you should know the top of each position because of the potential level of talent there. .
Holmes said he knows the team needs starters and depth in multiple positions, some of which can be tapped at number 7.
“There are some pieces we should definitely add,” said Holmes. “We can start with the defensive side of the ball. We definitely need a little more depth. We’re going to need starters in places, so those are things we’re going through.”
On offense, Holmes said he likes what they have on the offensive line but needs depth. And there’s a receiver room – whether they’re using a franchise tag on Kenny Golladay or not – that needs to be overhauled. All of this ties in with a quarterback, leading to a multitude of decisions that Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell must make as they evaluate what to do in free agency and concept, starting with the number 7 pick.