Sitting in a rather unusual position near the bottom of the draft order, the Detroit Lions turned in a solid, if not unspectacular showing over the three-day spectacle in New York. Key to the Lions' draft was offensive lineman Riley Reiff from Iowa, who Detroit selected with its first round pick to solidify its line play.
The Lions' second choice, however, was met with a fair share of criticism, as Detroit took injured Oklahoma wide receiver Ryan Broyles in the second round. With a handful of intriguing cornerbacks and linebackers still on the board at the time, the Broyles pick confused scouts, analysts and fans alike, and stands as the main reason why many are less than enamored with Detroit's 2012 haul.
SportingNews.com gave Detroit a B-minus for the draft, saying "Reiff projects as a good pass protector, but the Lions didn’t come away with surefire help for their pass defense struggles." As many as eight teams received either an A-plus or an A by Sporting News, while nine teams picked up a lower grade than Detroit's B-minus.
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