Detroit Lions 7 Round Mock Draft
This year's draft will be a crucial point in the new Patricia-Quinn Era. During the Lions last off-season, Quinn desperately needed to address the offensive line and acquired T.J. Lang from the Packs and Rick Wagner from Baltimore.
Now that the offensive line has been cleaned up (mostly), I'm extremely excited to see how the team goes about this years draft. So excited, in fact, that I've been using fanspeak.com's Mock Draft Simulator to attempt to suppress my excitement. Well, that only leads me here, to writing this blog about what I think the Lions are going to do.
So the Lions only have 6 Picks in the upcoming draft because they traded a 6th rounder to the Rams for the abomination of an offensive tackle in Cam Robinson. They did this because promising Taylor Decker tore his labrum in training camp before the 2017 season and the team needed a quick fill to the position.
I expect the Lions to move picks or players around to have at least one pick in each round.
I classify their team needs (from greatest to least) as: EDGE, DL, Interior OL, RB, OLB, TE, S, CB.
Round 1, Pick 20:
There have been others that have said that the Lions should go and get a running back like Derrius Guice, but with the 20th overall pick, he'd be only the second running back drafted. To me, this draft is filled to the brim with running backs and the Lions can certainly get one later.
At 20, I have the Lions taking DL Harrison Phillips. Although he's not as highly praised as a guy like Taven Bryan or Maurice Hurst, but you can't deny his production. As a Senior at Stanford he accumulated a whopping 103 Tackles, 17 tackles for losses, and 7.5 sacks as a Senior.
I think that Matt Patricia can mold him into an amazing interior lineman alongside A'Shawn Robinson and fortify the run defense since Haloti Ngata left during this free agency period.
I know, I know, why not take an Edge rusher like Marcus Davenport or Harold Landry? Easy answer, one is because I think only one of those guys will be available and second is because this class of pass rushers isn't very deep. The best pass rushers in the first round are only considered to be very good developmental players... Onto Round 2.
Round 2, Pick 19 :
Okay, so round 2 is definitely where we're going see an abundance of running backs taken. I think this would be an excellent time to take one, but I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to have the Lions take a guy who was very well known for creating humongous holes for backs in college: Frank Ragnow. He's a center and can immediately start. From left to right on the offensive line it'll be Decker, Glasglow, Ragnow, Lang, Wagner. All combing their efforts to guide newly acquired Legarrette Blount to the 6 point promise land.
Seriously though, if you've watched any of Arkansas's games you'd see an absolute mauler at the point of attack. People in the NFL community aren't giving this guy enough credit. Well, actually, there not giving Centers enough credit in general.
Round 3, Pick 18:
Alright, now that we've covered both the offensive and defensive lines, I think it's time that the Lions address the Running Back position. I really really wanted to put San Diego State running back Rashaad Penny here but I genuinely think he won't be available.
Instead I'm going to go and get a Banger at the position. Royce Freeman is a guy who is really intriguing, at 6'0" 238 lbs this guy easily is a 3 down back purely based on his size. I suspect that Abdullah and Riddick aren't going to be the undersized running back stable that we've been used to. One of those guys (hopefully Abdullah) is going to be gone sometime, and since Blount is on a 1 year deal, Freeman can learn from one of the best downhill backs in the game before taking over the reigns in 2019.
So here's where its going to get weird. In order for the Lions to get a 6th round selection this year, I have them trading Ameer Abdullah to <Insert Team Here> for a 6th rounder.
It doesn't really matter what team they end up trading with but I think they have too many backs on the roster and definitely need to clear some of them out.
Round 4, Pick 17:
Rounds 4-7 are usually comprised of athletes with off-the-field issues, developmental potential, and small school standing. The key is developmental potential; heck Kerry Hyder was originally an undrafted free agent and last years team sack leader Anthony Zettel was a 6th rounder. That being said defensive end is where I'd consider the most developmental potential.
Hercules Mata'afa, DE, Washington State is an intriguing prospect to me. He actually played in the interior during college, but the guy is 6 foot 2 and weighs only 250 pounds. That's what some linebackers weigh. So this is a developmental move for the Lions, they're gonna have to mold him into an edge rusher. I think he's got the skills to at least be a rotational player for them.
Round 5, Pick 16:
Okay, here we go, Round 5. Patricia said somewhere in an interview or press conference that he believes that you gotta work from the inside out on defense. Specifically, where the ball is and out is the most important. I think getting some linebacker depth at this point in the draft would be a definite plus for this team.
I actually have two possible picks. Josey Jewell and Jack Cichy.
To be honest I'd rather have Josey, Jack has been limited because of two serious injuries in the last 20 games. Regardless, both are impressive. I watched both of them fly all over the field both against Michigan these past seasons and actually spent most of the game looking for there respective numbers. I think with some coaching, these guys can definitely make the defense more versatile.
Round 6, Pick ?:
Earlier I said that Abdullah would be shipped out for a 6th rounder so lets just pretend it's a middle of the round pick.
Hopefully this guy will be there, but Chris Herndon from Miami is a guy who can eventually be a go-to for Matt Stafford. He's been overlooked because of now-current Brown David Njoku, but he's seriously an athletic freak. Of course at round 6 most players are going to be extremely raw as is he, but that's okay. After Ebron's release (finally) I hope to see the Lions address the position, even though they already went out and got a few free agents.
Round 7, Pick 19:
It's weird because this is the hardest spot for me to find a player for this team. I want to get another running back, linebacker, and wide receiver but I'm torn on who to get. So ya know what? I'm just going to put all 3 players on here and tell you why.
Player 1
Chris Warren from Texas is for sure a definite maybe, I know that I already got Banger Royce Freeman on this list, but why not get another? Warren is 6' 4" and he's 250 big ones. Albeit, he didn't perform all that well during the combine but c'mon, he's as big as a linebacker and could possibly even make that transition?
I have no clue, but you don't have much to lose with a pick this late in the draft.
Player 2
Antonio Callaway is a player who I think a lot of teams are going to pass up on because of the off-the-field issues (Credit Card Fraud Scheme with other players as well as many others), so he could very well be available at this point. He's similar in size to Golden Tate and I'm just drafting him for some depth at the slot position with Tate getting older.
When he did play, which he hasn't since 2016, he was great. The question will be what team will take a chance on him? At round 7, I think most teams won't have much to lose.
Player 3
The Lions already went out and got like 3 LB's this off-season but why not just throw another on here. Mike McCray is a big boy LB, same measurables to Chris Warren mentioned a few paragraphs ago. I put him here only because he's from Michigan and I enjoyed watching him play in the Big House. His ceiling would probably only be a backup to Jarrad Davis, but that's enough for me to pull the trigger on him. Also not to mention that he's very similar in size to the 3 guys that the Lions signed: Jonathan Freeny (6-2 245), Devon Kennard (6-4 256), and Christian Jones (6-3 244).
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So that concludes my mock draft, In all honesty, these players are actually really different from the one's I've picked time and time again. Seriously, I use the mock draft simulator probably 10 times a week, usually whenever I find myself bored or just thinking about football.
I guess when you spend the time writing about something, you have to dig and do a bit more research and look at fit, not just best player available.
Thanks for reading! Go Lions!
