Lions play it safe with Iowa lineman, which is fine for now

Lions GM Martin Mayhew gambled without gambling Thursday night. He surely hoped a prime cornerback would fall to the 23rd spot, and he wasn’t willing to trade the assets to move up and grab one.
Mayhew held firm, which was the no-gamble gamble, waiting to fill the team’s biggest hole, even as lots of teams made trades. It still could work out fine after the Lions went big and safe and solid with the first-round pick of Iowa offensive tackle Riley Reiff. He was considered a top-15 selection, and anyone who has ever griped about the Lions’ offensive line can’t complain too loudly about this.
Reiff is a polished three-year starter who’s expected to ease in at left tackle as veteran Jeff Backus eases out. He’s not some raw developmental project. He should be ready to fill a need fairly quickly, just not the Lions’ biggest immediate need.
Mayhew’s work has just begun because this was a good news-bad new opening to the draft. Too bad for the Lions, but the top three cornerbacks — Morris Claiborne, Stephon Gilmore and Dre Kirkpatrick — were gone by the 17th pick. So was the best safety, Mark Barron.
As expected, controversial North Alabama cornerback Janoris Jenkins was still available when the first round ended, so Mayhew and coach Jim Schwartz will have the same dilemma in rounds two and three Friday night.
They have to get a cornerback. They figured the cornerback position in the draft was deep enough — and their need for an offensive tackle severe enough — that they could wait. I’m fine with that strategy, unless they don’t get secondary help in the next two rounds.
Reilly sounds like a classic bruising Iowa lineman, at 6-5, 313 pounds. He said he wasn’t even watching the draft Thursday night, instead hanging out in the family barn in Parkston, South Dakota. The Lions definitely got beefier, and also helped their offense again.
Now it’s time to dive into fixing that defense, and if it requires a gamble or two, go for it.
Bob.wojnowski@detnews.com