The biggest offseason overreaction has been that this recent Lions draft pick is already a bust

In the 2024 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions scored big when 14 straight offensive players got picked in the beginning of the first round and pushed Alabama's Terrion Arnold close enough to the Lions for them to move up and get him. Nobody expected him to be at 24. 

The Lions then scored again the next night when they drafted Missouri's Ennis Rakestraw. A player who had been mocked by them at 29 on multiple occasions. 

Both players had different routes in 2024. Arnold stayed healthy all year and had an up-and-down first season, as you'd expect any rookie corner to have. Rakestraw, on the other hand, struggled with injuries and took on the brunt of learning a new role. 

In the summertime, it was going very well. I mean we were calling him Ennis Pickstraw because he kep picking Jared Goff and Hendon Hooker off. He was ready to go, and the coaching staff felt the same way. 

He was slated to get his first start in Week 2 against the Buccaneers as a nickel corner. Unfortunately, in pre-game warmups, he suffered a hamstring injury and had to miss the game. That injury really set him back.

It didn't help that Amik Robertson took the role and played so well all year. It sort of relegated Rakestraw to the bench while he got better. When he did play in games against the Cowboys and Titans, he played well. He was playing well on special teams as well. But the injury kept lingering. In November, the team put him on injured reserve, and that ended his season. 

Since then, there's been a lot of talk from some Lions fans about Rakestraw being a bust or being injury-prone, and that the Lions don't feel good about him. The news that the Lions will be moving Rakestraw back to the outside didn't help that thought at all. 

In my opinion, this is the biggest overreaction of the entire offseason. It's bigger than the disclosure around Ben Johnson's departure, and it's bigger than not drafting an edge rusher. At least those ones made a little bit of sense. This one makes none. 

Rakestraw didn't go out there and get burned a bunch of times. He allowed three catches all year. He didn't miss a bunch of tackles, and he never missed on a play that cost the team a game. 

He had one injury and was the victim of a better idea because of it. Then that injury lingered, and it cost him his rookie season. That doesn't mean it's over for him. Clearly the team felt highly enough of him to give him a starting spot to begin with. They just didn't feel he was getting over his injury, so they took action to protect him.

As far as moving him back to the outside, the Lions clearly have their guy at nickel with Robertson, and there's no sense in shaking that up now. It will make things a little harder for Rakestraw, having to find his snaps with Arnold and D.J. Reed starting, but he's a very solid cornerback who can make the most of that time, and there's still a world where he and Arnold are the starters. This guy is not a bust. Not even close.