The Lions’ selection of Tracy Walker makes sense from two different stand points. One is safety represents strength down the middle. When you see a good defense, invariably it has top safeties. It’s the last line of defense. The other is Lions’ safeties Glover Quin and Tavon Wilson are older players. It’s another sign general manager Bob Quinn is looking beyond just this season build something bigger.
It’s also a bit of an indictment on Miles Killebrew. If the Lions really think he is that good, would they have taken this player.
As for Walker, he played in the obscurity of the Sun Belt conference. It’s the lowest rung of college football’s top level. Profootballfocus.com didn’t rate him among their top 25 safeties. He tested well - 4.5 speed for safety is very good. He’s 6-0 and solidly built. He had pretty good stats at Louisiana-Lafayette. But he was projected a fifth or sixth round selection by NFL.com and literally drew no pre-draft buzz.
Quinn and the Lions are undoubtedly going to get skewered for this selection, but it may be unfair. The idea is to see something in a player nobody else does - and be right.
Walker is one of those iffy picks that sometimes work out perfectly.
We’ll see.