Tag: Deontae Banks

2023 Lions mock draft: Post-free agent kickoff edition

After the first few days of free agency have altered the Detroit Lions roster and need list, it’s time for an updated mock draft

After the first few days of free agency have altered the Detroit Lions roster and need list, it’s time for an updated mock draft.

These projections are based off the current state of the Lions’ roster as of March 17th and the recent signings through K Michael Badgley.

The picks here are what I think the Lions might do with the picks in the given situation. They do not necessarily represent the choices I would make. For the first two picks, I ran three different draft simulators (PFF, PFN, Fanspeak) to try and build some level of baseline availability. If a player was gone on two of the three simulators, I considered them off the board.

For the first pick at No. 6, that ruled out C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, Anthony Richardson and Will Anderson. It led to some interesting projections.

8 players from the Combine who stood out as potential Detroit Lions targets

These eight players stood out in Combine workouts and interviews as players who figure to interest the Lions

It was quite a week in Indianapolis at the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine. Over 200 players auditioned for their upcoming football fates in front of hundreds of media and all 32 NFL teams.

We also got to speak with most NFL coaches and GMs, including Detroit’s Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. But here, the focus is on the players.

From their athletic testing to their interviews, as well as how they played their respective positions in college, these players stood out amongst the Combine participants as players I strongly believe the Lions will rate highly coming out of Indianapolis.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell had a great quote about evaluating players at the NFL Scouting Combine

Not all of these players are first-rounders. Many are in the Day 2/early Day 3 range of talents. The purpose here isn’t to advocate for any of them, but to shed more light on players who possess the qualities that this Lions regime has said they look for in players, both in words and in their prior two draft histories.