The 2024 Draft Class Is Not Looking Good and We All Know It
Training camp at Allen Park has a way of making uncomfortable truths impossible to ignore. And right now, the uncomfortable truth is this: the 2024 draft class looks like it might be Brad Holmes’ first real whiff. Not a minor miss. A full-on whiff.
Go through it pick by pick and the picture gets bleaker the longer you stare at it.
At this point, the entire class comes down to one guy. Cornerback Ennis Rakestraw Jr. If he can stay healthy and be what we think he can be, this class might be salvageable. If he cannot, we are going to spend the next few years asking what the hell happened.
Terrion Arnold Never Got There
Terrion Arnold never looked like a first-round pick. That is not revisionist history. He never reached the level everyone thought he would.
Now he is dealing with criminal matters in Florida with a trial coming up. Other teams have shown interest. He has visited and worked out for a few of them. None have signed him yet.
That tells you everything you need to know.
Rakestraw Is the Last Man Standing
Rakestraw is the guy. He is the final hope that this draft class produces an actual starter.
So far in training camp, he has looked pretty good. He has a legitimate chance to win the CB2 job by September. He is showing up. The problem was never his play. It was always the injuries.
So far, so good. Knock on wood if you have to.
If Rakestraw can get over the finish line, if he can stay healthy and be the player we know he can be for an entire season, it almost makes up for everything else in this class. It changes the whole conversation.
If he cannot, we will always go back and talk about the 2024 draft class and wonder what Brad Holmes was thinking.
The Rest of the Class Is Falling Behind
Giovanni Manu was already in trouble before camp started. He practiced for one day and then landed on the NFI list. We do not know when he is coming off, and it is not looking good because Miles Frazier is starting to take reps at tackle. Colby Sorsdal can move himself ahead of Manu now, which he might have already done anyway.
Sione Vaki has been a really good special teams player, but he has had bad luck. First day of pads on Monday, he gets poked in the eye hard and breaks his nose. Now he is going to miss time. Meanwhile, there is talk about how good Jacob Saylors looked on Monday, and Dan Campbell is talking about Saylors and Jabari Small. Vaki is falling behind.
When the Lions drafted Skyler Gill-Howard in April, a player who is essentially what Detroit wanted out of Mehki Wingo, it seemed like the writing was on the wall. This comes after a season where Wingo was active for maybe one or two games and was a healthy scratch nearly every week. Now he is also behind Tyler Lacy, who keeps showing up. Levi Onwuzurike is starting to look healthier too. Wingo is buried on that depth chart.
Christian Mahogany might be the starting left guard on this team, but he has not won the job yet. He has got to fight off Frazier, Juice Scruggs, and Ben Bartch. All of them, with the exception of Bartch who is dealing with some injuries, have been getting first-team reps at left guard. Mahogany has not separated himself.
Is This Class Cursed?
I do not know what else to call it at this point.
Pretty much everybody the Lions talked to before that draft just has not worked out. Even the guys Detroit did not draft have not turned out to have great careers elsewhere. Maybe it was just a bad year. Maybe it was just not a good draft class for anybody.
All your hope has to go into Rakestraw at this point, and maybe Mahogany as well.
We will see what happens.
Do you think Rakestraw can save this draft class or are we headed for another painful what-if conversation in a few years? Drop your take below.
