Do people feel better about the Ebron pick now that they added a LB and a C?
Love Van Noy, am "meh" about Swanson. It makes a lot of sense since Raiola's (about) done, but it means that they totally ignored their glaring need at CB & FS. For talent, Ebron was a great pick. For actual need, Fuller or maybe Lewan (and go for Brooks or Gaines in the 3rd, knowing what you know now) look a lot better.
Basically, it looks like the Lions are in a great position to score 30 PPG... and go 8-8 doing so.
They don't really "need" a FS. Quin is slated to play the FS role in the defense this year, the "Ed Reed" role if you will. Ihedigbo is slated to play the SS. I'm actually excited to see Quin in this role, and while Ihedigbo might not be exciting, he is familiar with the defense, and working with Quin already to build their familiarity. I actually think they are okay at FS & SS for the time being. Long term they need a SS, assuming Quin succeeds in the FS role.
CB, I mentioned earlier... CB's tend to take a bit longer to develop. Perhaps they have seen enough from Slay, and possibly Bentley, this off-season that they feel one or both of them are going to take a step forward. Slay showed some potential last year, just made a lot of mistakes. Supposedly, he has been working with Rod Woodson this off-season, which shows a desire to get better. Bentley is also mistake prone, but was a 3rd rd pick, and is heading into his 3rd year.
This is all best case scenario, but I'm just pointing out that those area's of need could potentially be covered in house. I do know that when Calvin misses time, that offense has typically stalled out completely, so better receiving options were a necessity this off-season. Theoretically, they now have multiple guys outside of Calvin that can make a play on their own (Tate, Ebron), as opposed to last year where nobody was able to get open if Calvin wasn't dominating the defenses attention.