Tuesday afternoon marked the deadline for NFL teams to pick up the fifth-round options on the rookie contracts for the first-round picks of the 2020 NFL draft. The Detroit Lions didn’t have any decision to make, not after previously trading away Jeff Okudah, but the way the deadline played out does shine some light on the Lions.
The Lions and GM Brad Holmes have taken some shots about their strategy of drafting a running back and a linebacker in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. The fifth-year option decisions illustrate one of the main talking points for those who question Detroit’s strategy of positional valuation.
In the 2020 NFL draft, four linebackers were selected in the first round. The quintet has experienced an array of success over their collective first three seasons. Yet not one of them had his fifth-year option picked up.
Nobody expected the Cardinals to pick up the option on No. 7 overall pick Isaiah Simmons, who is still looking for one actual NFL position he can play well. Simmons hasn’t been bad, just not the impact pillar of versatility he was billed to be pre-draft.
The other three off-ball LBs in the first round have all emerged as good players. Kenneth Murray with the Chargers (No. 23 overall), Jordyn Brooks of the Seahawks (No. 27) and Patrick Queen in Baltimore (No. 28) are good NFL starters. Queen and Brooks are very good players, key pieces of pretty strong overall defenses. Murray racked up over 100 tackles as a rookie and is still a useful player, albeit in a more limited role.
In short, even the “hits” at off-ball linebacker in the draft proved to be unworthy of the $11.27 million basic fifth-year option. Why? Because the free agent market makes it less expensive to let guys like Brooks and Queen hit free agency and sign them long-term, or use a middle-round pick to replace them than it would be to pick up the option.
The market just isn’t there across the league for premium off-ball LBs. There are eight LBs in the league who average more than the fifth-year option figure. One of them is Queen’s Baltimore teammate, Roquan Smith. Chicago paid another one of those, Tremaine Edmunds, to replace Smith in its defense this offseason.
Edmunds is a good focal point here. The No. 16 overall pick of the 2018 NFL draft, Edmunds was an immediate impact player for the Buffalo Bills: 121 tackles, two interceptions, two forced fumbles as a rookie. Pro Bowls the next two seasons. Pro Football Focus largely downvotes his…
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