When it comes to teams evaluating prospects in the NFL Draft, their reasons for not liking a player can get pretty absurd. And, if it is to be believed, the reason Detroit Lions guard Christian Mahogany may have fallen in the draft is a prime example of that.
Mahogany, who was taken in the sixth round with the No. 210 overall pick, landed at No. 93 in the consensus rankings that were put together by Arif Hasan of Wide Left, which gives us a decent idea of the kind of value the Lions got when drafting him.
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Adding to the idea of the Lions getting great value, even Lions general manager Brad Holmes was shocked Mahogany was still on the board in that spot.
So, what gives?
Well, we may have gotten the answer from the Detroit Lions Podcast, where co-host Chris said he heard that Mahogany having one leg shorter than the other may have played a part.
“It’s so interesting. The way that these teams look at players is far beyond just film and GPS speed and everything else,” he said. “The word on the street is — and it’s not even on the street but in another place — is that he has a leg that is longer than the other one by a decent amount. OK, that’s a physical anomaly but it doesn’t change the way that he plays.”
He went on to add that scheme fit with some teams likely also played a role in Mahogany’s slide, but that isn’t enough in and of itself to explain why he fell so far. Surely there are plenty of teams that were a fit for the Boston College product.
When speaking on Mahogany after the draft, Holmes said he was surprised to see Mahogany fall as far as he did and hinted he had ideas about why that happened, but didn’t go into detail.
“I was shocked. I didn’t think he would still be there at that point,” Holmes said. “I can’t really go into details. I can probably point out a thing here or there that may have been a reason that we’ll keep internally, but there’s other players that I probably would have had a lot more questions on that went. I don’t know. I just know that he fits how we want to play, and he’s a tough, physical – he’s got some dirtbag in him and he’s just one of those tough, Jersey kids that doesn’t take a lot of crap. He’s got some fun tape to watch and he’s gone against some good defensive linemen and he’s done well versus them. So, we were excited to get him.”
Knowing how petty teams can be, it wouldn’t shock me one bit if the length of Mahogany’s legs was at least partly responsible for him falling.
