Detroit Lions Mid-Season Grades For All 2024 Draft Picks: There's a lot of concern for one high pick
Week 10 is in the rearview and we've really reached the halfway point of the season, Now is the right time to reflect on how the Lions 2024 draft picks have been performing during the first part of their career. While they just got out of school, we're going to be grading them like this […]
Week 10 is in the rearview and we've really reached the halfway point of the season, Now is the right time to reflect on how the Lions 2024 draft picks have been performing during the first part of their career. While they just got out of school, we're going to be grading them like this is their midterms. Let's jump into it.
Terrion Arnold
It's been sort of an up and down start for the Lions first round pick this season. There's the penalties and getting beat a little here and there, but I think there's a lot more ups to be looked at here.
Arnold has largely killed the penalty problem he had. After having a whopping eight in the first four games, Arnold has only been flagged one time after the bye week.
In terms of getting beat, I don't think it's happening as much the numbers might point to it. He's allowing catches on 65% of the targets coming his way. That's not that bad to begin with, but if you take out the Rams game and the first half of the Titans game, then you're down to 60% and just 21 catches. That's not bad at all. People also tend to not really think about what Arnold is being asked to do as a rookie.
Grade: B-
The reason I went with B- here is because the penalties did happen and while he took a big break from them, he had a 45-yard one on Sunday. He's getting better at everything though.
Ennis Rakestraw
I had a lot of high hopes for Rakestraw coming out, but the Lions are really taking their time with him. He's only played 43 snaps this season after what we all thought was a really good summer. I mean people were calling him Pickstraw because he kept getting interceptions at camp.
At this time the Lions either plan to enter him into the conversation more in 2025 or they're looking to get him more involved in the second half of the season. All I can do now is grade him what we've seen and what we've seen hasn't been super great.
Grade: C-
Don't get too crazy about this grade or overthink it. Rakestraw isn't a bust or anything of the sort. He's just not playing a lot and the few times that he did play, he struggled like 95% of rookies do.
Giovanni Manu
Lions fans aren't going to like me saying this, but this pick scares me now. I loved it in the moment and saw the upside like everyone else did, but then I saw, like everyone else did, at camp that he might be a year or two away from being a year or two away. He is crazy raw at this point. Like raw enough to where you're teaching him how to play the game.
He got better with time, but he's not ready to take the field this year and he probably won't be next year either.
Grade: F
Do not freak out just yet. The upside is still there. The guy is mountain of a man and he has Sewell level athleticism and strength. If he can learn to use it and comes along nicely, this pick is going to be an all time steal. Then again if he can't, it'll be the time the Lions didn't draft and edge or a receiver so they could pick a long term project.
Sione Vaki
He's doing pretty much exactly what the Lions want him to do. You saw on Sunday how he double speared two guys like he was Bill Goldberg on Nitro or something. The Lions drafted him to be a running back at some point and that point is coming, but the thing that Holmes said he really liked was Vaki's special teams ability. We're definitely seeing it.
Right now Vaki has a 90 special teams grade from Pro Football Focus. He's one of the best special teams players in the league at the moment. Once he gets worked into the offense more and maybe plays some safety here and there, he's going to look like the biggest steal of the draft.
Grade: A
I mean seriously, look at this.
Mekhi Wingo
When Wingo was picked it seemed like the biggest day three steal the Lions could have gotten. This was a guy that was mocked as high as the third-round at one point.
Early on in the season he was showing that. He was getting pressure on the quarterback and playing plenty of snaps. Lately there's been some injuries and it's sort of stunted his growth a bit. He didn't play Week 9 and then only played 10 snaps against the Texans. We'll see if he turns it back up.
Grade: C+
Christian Mahogany
There's really not much I can say here because we've seen literally nothing from him. He didn't participate at camp and he has yet to take the field in his rookie year. I think he's going to be a solid guard for this team someday, it's just not right now and that's ok.
Grade: D-
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Last year I caught a little bit of flak for saying that Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn should be the most desired Lions coordinator when it came to being a a head coach. The Lions defense wasn't super good at the time, but the big thing for me has always been that I believe […]
