transcript

Speaker 1:
[00:00] Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo, it's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce, and more. And the best part, Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses have made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's odoo.com.

Speaker 2:
[01:00] What's going on, Lions fans? Welcome to the Pride of Detroit PODcast, your home for all the latest and greatest Lions news updates analysis. So much more. This is a special NFL Draft edition. The first round of the 2026 NFL Draft just wrapped up, and Morgan, Cannon and I are here to kind of just recap what basically took place when it comes down to the Lions pick and just kind of give our overall thoughts on what we think of what the Lions did at pick 17, as well as what may happen, or what we think the Lions should do going into the second round or day two of the draft here. Morgan, first and foremost, at pick 17, the Lions did in fact go with offensive tackle out of Clemson, Blake Miller. What was your just initial reaction to this pick? Do you think the Lions nailed it? Do you think there was a bit of a reach? What do you think about the Lions adding Miller to this roster?

Speaker 3:
[01:49] It made sense, right? We knew like it or not, they went into the draft with a need. Could Larry Boram have started at right tackle and could you have gotten along? Sure. Would it have been ideal? No. No, it wouldn't have been. So the fact that the board kind of shook out the way it did, you know, like we were during our live stream, you know, we were like, okay, you know, we might be okay right here. And then after the Jordan Tyson pick at eight to New Orleans, and then Fano went and then Maui Noah went, and then a pick later, two picks later, excuse me, Caden Proctor went. So there was a run on tackle. So I'm happy that Brad exercised a bit of patience because I'm sure his trigger finger started to itch a little bit. You know what I mean? Like when the offensive tackle started going off the board, right?

Speaker 2:
[02:38] I mean, yeah, like I think to kind of like, you know, drive home your opponent a little bit more, that first round specifically picks one through pick eight really unfolded very nicely for the Lions. There wasn't a tackle taken anywhere within the first eight picks. And so, like you said, like you start to kind of feel pretty good, like, hey, like, if things kind of keep unfolding this way, considering some of the players that were still on the board, Ruben Bain Jr. hadn't been picked yet at that point. Caleb Downs hadn't been picked yet within like the top 10 picks. There was a lot of feeling like, hey, the Lions are very well in play to get one of the top three tackles. But like you said, the run kind of started once you got to pick nine with Spencer Fano going to the Cleveland Cavaliers, to the Cleveland Browns.

Speaker 3:
[03:23] Been a long night.

Speaker 2:
[03:25] Man, it has been. Francis Mawe, Noah goes to the New York Giants. Then like you said, back down to pick 12, Caden Proctor rounds out one of the top 15 tackles that gets taken. Things got immediately tight after that. But like you said, things still continue to unfold in the Lions' favor. Once you go from like 13 to 16, Ty Simpson goes to the LA. Rams. Venga Ioane, the guard from Penn State, goes to the Ravens. Ruben Bain Jr. finally comes off the board at 15 to Tampa Bay. And by this point in time, with Kenyon Sadiq going to the Jets at pick 16, it felt like the Lions were in a good place to take Monroe Freeling here at 17, but they instead go with Blake Miller. Before I ask you, I want to ask you first and foremost, why do you think the Lions preferred Miller over Freeling? But I think probably the better question is this, what is it about Miller's game that you like so much?

Speaker 3:
[04:29] He's consistent, man. It's going to sound cliche, but the grittiness is his grit index. Shout out to Erik Schlitt and between the numbers Anthony. But his grit index, Anthony told me early in the process, he's like, hey man, a good name to get familiar with is Blake Miller out of Clemson. But a 9.90 raz, so he's got the tools, tested really well, grit index of 9.67, heavy anchor, heavy hands. And just, there was a quote earlier during the livestream, but he said he wasn't sure that he's ever missed a game of competitive football at any level. So, I mean, if the comparison for them, like the analysis and the arrival, like if him and Friedling were close, and the evaluation probably tips towards Blake Miller just because of those reasons we just talked about, like the grit, like the intangibles, like the football character, if you will, right?

Speaker 2:
[05:24] Yeah. I mean, going to like Dane Brugler's, you know, the Beast guide, you look over at, you know, Monroe Friedling, which is a guy that a lot of people were like, hey, the Lions could potentially take Monroe Friedling. Well, the knock on Monroe Friedling was like, yeah, but you're talking about a guy that's only started 18 games in his collegiate career, has only played in 37 collegiate games. That in comparison to Blake Miller, like you talk about consistent, and you talk about Blake Miller talking about he doesn't think he's ever missed a game of professional football in his life. The guy has started either all like 14 or 13 games in every season at Clemson. 2022, 14 games played, 14 games started. 2023, 13 games, 13 games started. 2024, 14 games played, 14 games started. 2025, 13 games played, 13 games started. That is the model of consistency, and you talk about this is a position in offensive tackle, in offensive line in general, where like guys get beat up, things happen in those piles, things happen just in terms of just playing the game. And one of the things that that Bruegler noted about Blake Miller is his toughness. He kind of has this point here as one of his strengths, quote, remarkable toughness and consistently plays through bumps and bruises, broken wrists during the 2025 spring practice, required surgery, but he missed only one practice. Like missing one practice with a broken wrist, and you're in offensive line, like you have to punch, you have to be able to block and get leverage. That's toughness on another level. In my mind, like you said, I think when the Lions possibly looked at Blake Miller in his experience at the position in combination with his character traits, that might have been the thing that kind of tipped things in his favor over the likes of Monroe Freeling, even though a number of analysts had Monroe Freeling ranked as a higher player.

Speaker 3:
[07:23] And I would get that too, like I understand that thought process just because of how Freeling tested and maybe he does have a little bit of a higher ceiling than Blake Miller, like if you're looking at it like that right now. But we'll know here in a few years. But at any rate, it gets the Lions closer to where they need to be, where four out of five now, you know, I know they're going to give Boram every chance to compete for the job too, but four out of five positions are now situated on the offensive line with that left guard position probably being a really good competition between the likes of Christian Mahogany and Miles Frazier. Maybe throw, I don't know, Ben Bartsch in there, Honey Juice Scrugs is pretty firmly the backup center. But at any rate, you got a good, Blake Miller is an above average starter right away, and Tate Ratledge continues to ascend, and Panay settles in at left tackle like we all know he will. Then you're trending towards getting back to that 2023, 2024 level of play where you're dominating the trenches, and that's how you're winning 12, 15 games in a season.

Speaker 2:
[08:26] Yeah. You mentioned Panay moving over to left tackle. That move becomes also automatic and very easy with the addition of Blake Miller, right?

Speaker 3:
[08:35] Yeah, I think so. Blake Miller played at right tackle the whole time at Clemson. Like we just Meko ran through there, right? It was right tackle the whole time. So yeah, get Panay back now. Panay has an entire off season to work over there and just get used to setting and kicking and punching on the left side again, back to when he was at Clemson where I would like to remind people he did win the Outland Trophy as a sophomore. So the best offensive lineman in the country. So because there was some discourse around that for a little bit. It doesn't matter where Panay Sewell is playing, OK? You could have him lose 30 pounds and he'd be an all pro tight end. He's Panay Sewell. So yeah, it gets us back to where we need to be. Yeah.

Speaker 2:
[09:14] And I agree. Like specifically, like when you especially when you talk about running the football because that is another strength of Blake Miller's game. And while you still, like you said, there probably will be a competition. I would be a little surprised if Blake Miller was like day one, starting with with the ones. But I think he's going to get a nice mix. And I think they want to also get a look at at Larry Borum to just kind of see like how things kind of go. But worst case scenario or sorry, best case scenario in this situation, Blake Miller wins the starting right tackle job. And you still have a really good OT3 slash swing tackle option in Larry Borum so that you don't have to necessarily like put a lot of hope and faith into whatever Giovanni Maneu is going to develop into or anything like that. We also talked about this during the live stream. But it wouldn't surprise me, Morgan, if this isn't the only tackle that the Lions look to add. It wouldn't surprise me if you get to day three or with one of the later fourth round picks that they have, maybe they try and find another tackle to compete for one of those other backup spots.

Speaker 3:
[10:24] Yeah, at the very least, right? Maybe someone who can stick on the practice squad, just because you're already up against it with just how many players you have in that room and roster construction standpoint. So I don't know, like you're already almost at nine. But to your point, like if it's a day three pick and that player can stick on the practice squad and be another option, because who knows what happens with Manu? It's a really important offseason and training camp for him, like really important. So it's going to be a fun room to watch because there's going to be so many storylines. Blake Miller, obviously the rookie first round pick, Panay on the left, How's Tate improving? Who's winning left guard? Cade Mays. So it's going to be probably the most pivotal position group this offseason, because if it can gel and get going, then this team will be back to winning the NFC North and making a deep playoff run again.

Speaker 2:
[11:15] Yeah. You made a point earlier too, and I want to reiterate this again about Brad Holmes, commending Brad Holmes for sticking to his guns and being patient to see how things unfolded, especially once you had arguably the three top tackles come off the board with Fano, Maui, Noah, and Proctor. At the end of the day, Morgan, all of the guys that were kind of graded as top offensive tackles all went in the first round in some form or fashion. Blake Miller goes at 17, Freeling goes at 19. The kid out of Arizona State was about to put you.

Speaker 3:
[11:55] He told us, a henature, a henature.

Speaker 2:
[11:58] Yeah.

Speaker 3:
[11:58] A henature.

Speaker 2:
[11:59] Yeah. Goes 21 to the Steelers. And then you had Caleb Lomu go near the back end of the first round, 28 to New England. That's all of the highly graded tackles already gone in the first round.

Speaker 3:
[12:16] Y'all seven.

Speaker 2:
[12:18] I guess seven guys. I now look at, well, OK, great. The Lions were able to address a need in the first round by taking care of tackle. Looking ahead to day two and even further, looking ahead to day three, what's the next big need that you see the Lions needing to address specifically? Let's focus on day two with pick 50. What do you think the Lions need to really try to lock in on whether it's staying pat, trading up, trading back? What do you think the Lions need to be most focused on position-wise when it comes to that pick?

Speaker 3:
[12:53] I could say edge and give the chalky answer. Like you'd hope maybe Gabe Yoccas or Zion Young is around, like Malachi Lawrence is already off the board, but there's some options there, like in the second ruck at pick 50. But then I also could see them, to your point earlier on the live stream, just a defensive playmaker. So whether that's an off-ball linebacker, that would be fine. Like I know Jacob Rodriguez is still on the board, but I don't think he's gonna be there long if I had to be honest with you. Like he'd feel like a glove next to Jack Campbell though. Like he's projects is like a pure will can cover. That could be a linebacker. You don't really have to take off the field with Jack Campbell. So, but then there's your guy, Kiante Scott, you and Ryan both like. So there's options. As long as I think it would be great if it was an edge defender or at least just another like utility player in the secondary.

Speaker 2:
[13:46] Yeah, I'm with you. And edge gets very interesting because obviously now that we're out of the first round, I think edge becomes a lot more valuable because you're looking at the guy. You're probably looking at some guys that are probably like we're on the cusp of being first round picks. We saw a lot of teams near the back end of the first round kind of trade out, but guys like TJ Parker are still available. You mentioned Gabe Yoccas and Zion Young. Cassius Howell is another guy that's still out there that the Lions could potentially target in the second round. It does make me nervous that if edge is the position that they want to go for, I don't know if it's going to be there at 50. If the Lions are locked in on that position, I do feel like they might have to do some maneuvering. But I think that's where, to your point, defensive playmaker in general just makes more sense because I think that gives the Lions a lot more fluidity to whatever they want to do at pick 50 or anything that they want to do in terms of trading up or trading back in that regard as well. Because there are still guys that were probably considered as first round talents that are sliding into the second round. Jermod McCoy, one of the top corners in this draft class did not go in the first round. Emmanuel McNeil Warren, one of the top safeties, did not go in the first round. Kaden McDonald, the top defensive tackle by a lot of people, did not go in the first round. So I think even that hopefully can help push some of these pass rushers down to the Lions. And if not, I do think, like you said, I think they're in a really good spot to still find themselves a really good playmaker to hopefully help out this defense.

Speaker 3:
[15:21] Yep. And then, you know, we'll see what kind of maneuvering he does, because I'd ideally, I think, like to get like back into the third round, but we'll have to see how tomorrow night shakes out. But yeah, overall fun first night and glad we got to do it.

Speaker 2:
[15:36] Yeah, it was absolutely a really fun stream. We really appreciate everybody that was able to attend the live stream and hang out with Morgan and myself as we kind of broke down and reacted to every single pick that kind of took place. If you are enjoying this podcast, like always, you can always leave us a review wherever you are listening to this podcast at, or if you were watching this on YouTube, definitely leave us a comment below and let us know what you thought of the Lions taking Blake Miller at pick 17. Do you think they should have done something different? Also let us know what you grade the pick overall. And what you think the Lions should probably do on day 2 of the NFL Draft. Also if you are looking for any more news or insight into the Lions most recent pick, you can always find that at prideofdetroit.com. I'm sure there are numerous articles being put up as we speak, so definitely go and support all of the content that's being put up over on the website. And yeah, that's pretty much going to do it for Morgan and myself. So with that said, I'm Meko, he's Morgan. Thank you guys for taking the time to watch and listen, and we'll be sure to see you all in the next one.

Speaker 1:
[17:02] Support for this show comes from Odoo. Running a business is hard enough, so why make it harder with a dozen different apps that don't talk to each other? Introducing Odoo. It's the only business software you'll ever need. It's an all-in-one, fully integrated platform that makes your work easier. CRM, accounting, inventory, e-commerce and more. And the best part? Odoo replaces multiple expensive platforms for a fraction of the cost. That's why over thousands of businesses made the switch. So why not you? Try Odoo for free at odoo.com. That's odoo.com.