The Detroit Lions have a major need at wide receiver, that’s common knowledge. In his conference call with the media, NFL Network draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah revealed several wideout options for the Lions with their picks at No. 32 and No. 34 in the 2022 NFL draft.
Jeremiah was asked about the Jacksonville Jaguars potentially taking a wide receiver at No. 33 overall, the first pick of the second round. However, with the Lions holding the picks on either side of Jacksonville, his answer certainly offers some insight into what Detroit can do at No. 32 or No. 34 in addressing the wideout position.
“Well, we see receivers that are first-round guys fall out of the first round every year, and part of it’s just because we have the sheer numbers,” Jeremiah responded. “But if you look at the wideouts that have been taken in the second round over the last handful of years, you’re going to see a ton of studs from — just look at Ole Miss, from D.K. Metcalf, A.J. Brown, Elijah Moore, those three wide receivers from one school, Terry McLaurin, on and on and on and on. We can go through Deebo Samuel. Every year we see guys with big grades that end up falling into the second round just because of the sheer number of wideouts that we have.”
Then Jeremiah got into some more specific players in the 2022 draft.
“We talked about him a little bit, but Jameson Williams, where does he go? Does he still go in the first round off that injury? If he doesn’t, you’re the
Jags, shoot, you talk about hitting a home run. When he gets healthy, you’ve got a dynamic player for Trevor (Lawrence) to work with here.
That would be kind of a slam dunk no-brainer.”
Williams suffered a torn ACL in Alabama’s college football playoff run and might not be available for at least some of the 2022 season. Prior to the injury, the speedy Williams was often projected as a top-10 selection.
Back to Jeremiah…
“We’ve talked about (Ohio State’s Chris) Olave and (Penn State’s Jahan) Dotson, does one of them fall out? I think Treylon Burks (Arkansas) will be long gone,” Jeremiah continued. “Kind of a wildcard, it might be a little early there with that first pick, but George Pickens from Georgia who’s had some injuries is really, really gifted. To me I think — I kind of thought he’d be more back end of 2 (second round), but we’ll see how he goes through the spring because that guy, he can really go up and get the football. He just has that ability to play above the rim and he’s a pretty crisp route runner for somebody who’s 6-3. He’s an interesting one. I think those are kind of the names I’d keep an eye on.”
The former NFL scout and college QB then offered a few more names for the next draft range that could drip to the Lions with their pick at the top of the third round.
“After that, you slide down a little bit, you get into the David Bells, the Christian Watsons, the Skyy Moores, the Jalen Tolberts of the world,” Jeremiah said.
One name Jeremiah didn’t list is USC’s Drake London. In a different answer, he projected London to be drafted in the teens, perhaps by the Cleveland Browns at No. 13 overall.