With a first round pick I feel like you need a sure fire prospect who's going to win games for you. Tyler eiferr was a first round pick last year for the bengals...was he a difference maker with two touchdowns? What about zack ertz ? We need guys who can be gamechangers and unless we are sure Ebron is the next jimmy graham and not the next Jared cooks or Cumberland, we should save that for cj or colt or Nicklas later in the draft and take a receiver or a pass rushing linebacker. Also if he can't block that well he's going to have a hard time getting on the field
My problem with Ebron is with his blocking. People claim he doesn't block. Whether it's his desire or not, I'm not sure, but I do remember reading that Ebron and Jace Amaro's combined plays in college resulted in something like lining up in the slot 77% of the time. I'd put that on the coaches. Nevertheless, he doesn't have the experience of lining up as a traditional TE. Basically, Ebron isn't a TE, he's a WR that may be asked to line up next to a tackle.
The Lions drafting Ebron makes this ok, as they can basically use him as a massive WR. Pettigrew can block for them, and he hasn't been as much of a threat in the passing game as he was when he was younger. Teams are going to have a hard time matching up with Ebron and Calvin Johnson in coverage, and it's a pretty smart pick because it is going to make attempting to double cover Johnson really really hard if they send Ebron into the slot on Johnson's side. Hopefully Antonio Allen can match up well in man coverage when we play them.
