NFL Mad At Lions For Not Using More Time To Make No. 2 Pick
The Lions likely knew for awhile who they were going to select with the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
With the Jaguars fixated on the potential of Georgia defensive end Travon Walker, Detroit had set its sights on Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson. So when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said at the podium that Detroit was on the clock, it was quite simple for the Lions brass: turn the card in for Hutchinson and move on.
So that's what they did. They made their selection of Hutchinson without using majority of their 10 minutes on the clock. NBC Sports' Peter King noted in this week's Football Morning in America column that this didn't sit well with the NFL, who wanted Detroit to use more of its allotted time.
"I don’t think we overthought it,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell told Albert Breer of SI.com. “Brad said, ‘Turn it in; let’s go.’ Because we knew we were good. ‘Let’s go; he’s our guy.’ We weren’t going to wait around, and we’re not going to do the whole dog-and-pony show. We got our guy, and we turned the card in.
"...We said from Day 1 — you ask A.G. (defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) — what do we want our defense to be known as and built off of? What type of layers. Relentless, rugged, smart, explosive and nasty in the run game and pass game. This guy fits that bill. He’s everything we’re about.”
Dog-and-pony show, as Campbell called it, might be the perfect description of what the NFL Draft has become. Drama, drama and more drama. If we've learned anything about Campbell during his tenure in Detroit thus far, it's that he's the antithesis of drama.
Perhaps if more teams took the Lions' approach during the Draft, then these things might end before midnight Eastern Standard Time.
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