The Detroit Lions have brought in Missouri cornerback Ennis Rakestraw as the 61st overall selection in the 2024 NFL Draft. This comes after they brought in Terrion Arnold from Alabama to double up their options in the position.
The Detroit Lions fell at the NFC Championship game last time around, losing to the San Francisco 49ers, but fans of the Ford Field franchise who feel that their team can get deeper into the postseason in 2024 can look to make of the legal sports betting in Michigan by backing their team to do just that with a wager.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes discussed his side’s NFL draft moves in depth, outlining the team’s thinking and overall strategy,
“Going to Terrion, we talked about the personality and just big energy and big personality very, very confident,”
“Ennis is actually different. You feel the confidence in him. Me and Dan (Campbell) talking to him, I kind of felt dog exuding out of him.”
“Terrion and Ennis both of them you really felt like, ‘OK, these guys fit what we’re about and these guys fit our culture. But it was something about Ennis, just the competitiveness, the drive, how he talked about his story, how he talked about his process, how he talked about the details of how he came out of high school in Texas and just the whole recruiting process and when he got to Missouri and his whole thing about the receivers he’s been against.” Holmes added.
Following his draft, Rakestraw took to Zoom to talk about his move to Detroit, commenting, “I call myself the tone setter. Our defense used to call me the firecracker of the team because yeah I’m a corner, but I’ll come up and set that edge and hit you like a linebacker and I like my presence to be felt when I’m out there.”
Lions make steady progress
Under the guidance of Dan Campbell, the Detroit Lions have made steady progress. In his first season at the helm, the team suffered a 3-13-1 losing season but bounced back to complete a 9-8 record in 2022 before coming through 2023 with a 12-5 run that earned them the top spot in the NFC North for the first time since they moved from the Central back in 2002.
As for the cornerback position, as well as their new additions, Campbell can call upon Carlton Davis, Amik Robertson, Emmanuel Moseley, Kindle Victor and Brian Branch, so they certainly have strength in depth in that area of the field.
On that competition, Holmes expanded, “It’s a bloodbath in there now. That’s what makes everything better. It makes the room better. It makes the defense better. It makes the team better. Competition just brings the best out of everyone.
“We didn’t go into it saying we were going to get two corners in the first two rounds. We really didn’t. It’s just, (Rakestraw) was the highest rated guy for us at the time. You know how we roll and went ahead and got him.” Holmes concluded.
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