ALLEN PARK — Ennis Rakestraw flew to Detroit for a pre-draft visit 17 days ago. He knew the Lions were looking for a strong cornerback and decided he would be a culture fit. So did everyone else, and Rakestraw became the Lions’ modern choice at number 29.
He then arrived in Detroit and got into a car provided by the team. There was also All-American Terrion Arnold from Alabama.
They were the top two cornerbacks in the best conference in the nation. It turned out they were also the top two cornerbacks on the Lions’ draft board. Both were in town on the same day for pre-draft visits. Now, the Lions opened the draft by taking both star cornerbacks, filling their top remaining need by trading Arnold in Round 1 and then taking Rakestraw in Round 2.
“We didn’t go into this saying we were going to get two corners in the first two rounds,” general manager Brad Holmes said moments after the pick. “We really didn’t. (Rakestrow) was just the highest-rated guy for us at the time. And you know how we roll. We went ahead and caught him. Those were both our top-ranked corners.”
The Lions may not have intended to run cornerbacks back-to-back, but it’s hard to imagine this draft — staged on their streets, with record-breaking crowds screaming their every move — doing any better than that.
They’ve been saddled with bottom-five pitching defenses for the past half-decade. Holmes tried to attack the weakness last year, signing cornerbacks C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Cam Sutton and Emmanuel Mosley in free agency, plus second-round draft pick Brian Branch. But while Branch proved to be a front-runner in the slot, Gardner-Johnson missed most of the season, Moseley did too, and Sutton was a failure in the starting lineup.
Detroit finished 27th against the pass overall and allowed the second-most passes per game in the postseason before losing Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles in free agency and then suspending Sutton due to domestic violence allegations in Florida.
The Lions still have one of the best rosters in the NFL, but they’ve had more serious issues at cornerback than anywhere else. Holmes again invested heavily in free agency, trading for Carlton Davis and then signing Amick Robertson to a two-year deal. Then, whether he intended to or not, he also made a historic investment in the draft by spending his first two picks on cornerbacks, the first in franchise history.
Detroit had drafted just two cornerbacks in the first two rounds in the past decade combined, and both were busts. With Arnold and Rakestraw now joining Davis and Robertson, plus the re-signing of Kyndle Wildor and Emmanuel Moseley, not to mention the return of Branch in the slot, there are plenty of possibilities for a season where Detroit will be a Super Bowl favorite.
The Lions figure to have their deepest rotation at cornerback, well, when was the last time they had that many viable options at the position? And there’s no telling what will develop once the competition begins in training camp.
“Yeah, it’s a bloodbath there now,” said Holmes. “It is, and that makes everything better. It makes the room better, it makes the defense better, it makes the team better. Competition just brings out the best in everyone.”
The Lions have not only added talent to the position, but the hardcore culture fits as well. Arnold’s reputation for dowagers speaks for itself, and Rakestrow is cut from the same cloth.
“I call myself a tone setter,” Rakestraw said. “My defense used to call me the firecracker of the team. I’m a corner, but I’m going to come and put that advantage. I’m going to hit you as a quarterback and just make my presence felt every play I’m out there.”
Does this guy sound like a Dan Campbell fit or what?
Like so many other pieces in this reconstruction, Rakestraw also came from humble beginnings. He was once a 138-pound cornerback who locked down wide receivers during his days at the highest levels of Texas high school football. He was invited to Under Armor’s national camp and made the four-hour drive from the University of Kansas. Then he showed up and was turned away at the door because of his size.
“I was at the door, coach had to let me in,” Rakestraw said. “But then he came back and said some of the guys said I didn’t look like a Power Five athlete because I was so small. I called my mom, my mom picked me up. I cried in the car and vowed that by the end of this year, every four or five stars I face will feel me and show them that I’m the type. And I did, and I got this far.”
Rakestraw committed to Missouri, and while he dealt with injuries and wasn’t the same kind of top-level athlete as Arnold, he also established himself as a performer in the SEC. He allowed just 18 catches for 197 yards last season, and against the best offense he faced all year, LSU quarterback Jaden Daniels — who went second overall — targeted Rakestraw just once all afternoon. That ball fell to the ground and Daniels never attempted the Rakestraw again.
Holmes was impressed with the production.
He was also impressed with the wiring.
“You feel the confidence,” Holmes said. “Me and Dan (Campbell) sitting there talking to him, I just felt the ‘hush’ coming off him, just a lot quieter, just kind of down to business, not as loud and vocal and bright personality as it was Therion.
“But Therion and Ennis, you both really felt like, ‘Okay, these guys are right for us. These guys fit our culture. But that was something about Ennis, just the competitiveness, the drive, how he talked about his history, how he talked about his process, how he just talked about the details since he came out of high school in Texas and just the whole recruiting process and how when he got to Missouri, all his work for those receivers he’s faced in the past, against (Steelers WR George) Pickens. All these things I was just like, man, this guy is for one of the more competitive kids. So not only did I feel a competitive drive in him, but he spoke it and his record shows the same.”
The Lions have four picks on Day 3 of the draft, including two in the fifth round, plus single picks in the sixth and seventh. They could go every which way with those picks, including nailing some depth pieces to unaddressed areas like rusher and receiver.
But for a team that hasn’t defended the pass well in half a decade — and hasn’t had a top-notch cornerback since Darius Slay was run out of town by the previous regime — there’s finally real hope that one of the league’s best teams finally fixed his biggest weakness.
