There's no doubting that the Detroit Lions addressed a major need when they selected former Duke offensive lineman Laken Tomlinson with the 28th pick in the first-round of the 2015 NFL Draft - well, two actually, considering the addition of Manny Ramirez via trade back with the Denver Broncos. Tomlinson should, presumably, combine with Larry Warford and Ramirez to create one of the strongest interior offensive lines in the entirety of the NFL, providing more time for quarterback Matthew Stafford to find his receivers and tearing open holes for Ameer Abdullah and Joique Bell in the running game.
If Tomlinson pans out as expected, his draft value will cease to be a consideration and, really, in the draft, despite what draftniks and media members will have you believe, consensus does not matter - if you target a player and believe they have the potential to become a consistently high-level contributor for your team, then you take them, pre-draft valuations and the perspective of other NFL franchises be damned.
If they become perennial Pro Bowlers, those very same media members will forget all about their draft slot, other than to periodically reminisce and think to themselves, "How did he not go earlier?"
That being said though, teams do enter the draft with a finite amount of picks so opportunity cost is certainly a consideration.
What does this have to do with the Lions and Tomlinson?
According to a recent report, the Lions may have been able to add another player of need in the first and still grab Tomlinson later in the draft - as late as the second or third-round, in fact.
"One team that was considering interior offensive line help early in the draft they had a third-round grade on Tomlinson," reports Charlie Campbell of Walter Football. "They viewed him as a power right guard. Sources from one of the Lions' divisional rivals said they had a second-round grade on Tomlinson. So to those teams, Tomlinson was a reach in the first round. "
Of course, need is a major factor when determining draft value - a team with a strong group of starters along the offensive line and ample depth simply won't value a guard as highly as a team with a glaring hole at one of the five starting spots on their line.
For the Lions, Tomlinson was - seemingly - just what they needed to add stability to an offense that has for several seasons now boasted high-flying weaponry, but is too-often grounded by a lack of consistency which emanates from weaknesses up front.
Still, if the Lions could have addressed another need - the secondary perhaps? - in the first and still landed Tomlinson in the second, an already impressive draft class would have looked even stronger and an already talented Lions team could have potentially become even more imposing.
The merits of squeezing every last drop of value out of the draft versus simply targeting players and taking them whenever available to ensure they land with your team is a philosophical debate that really just boils down to personal preference. There is no right or wrong in terms of value - just in terms actual player selection.
And if Campbell is to be believed, while some teams viewed Tomlinson as a major reach, others would have been just as happy to snap him up if the Lions had passed.
"Another team that addressed the offensive line in the first round said they had Tomlinson in the 25-35 range on their draft board, and that is in line with where the Lions took him at No. 28," writes Campbell. "Another franchise that hit the offensive line hard after the first day said they had a second-round grade on Tomlinson and projected him to go in the 25-45 range."
Maybe 28 was early for the former Blue Devil - maybe not.
In the end, Tomlinson and the Detroit coaching staff will be the ones who decide that.
