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Final Mock Draft- 2022- NO TRADES EDITION.

Old Lion

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Lions selected Oklahoma State LB Malcolm Rodriguez with the No. 188 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.​

Rodriguez (5’10/236) was an All-Big 12 honoree his last three seasons on campus capped with an enormous 2021 campaign that included 129 tackles, 15 TFLs, three sacks, and four forced fumbles. Undersized but with football intelligence and straight-line explosion, Rodriguez tends to see things before they happen and fly to the spot. He piled up 397 tackles over the last four years by sifting through traffic and dropping ball-carriers. He’s also improved in coverage in each of the past three years. Rodriguez posted a fabulous 92nd-percentile size-adjusted athletic composite during pre-draft testing including a 4.52 forty. But with arms barely measuring over 30 inches, his small tackling radius manifests in broken tackles. He reminds us of another recent productive, undersized collegiate warrior to enter the NFL, Ben Burr-Kirven.

- Rotoworld
He could always get a job as a Carny if he does not succeed in the NFL.
 

Rollingthndr

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Best of the rest​

QB Sam Howell
RB Isaiah Spiller
RB Tyler Allgeier
RB Dameon Pierce
RB Kyren Williams

I like Kyren Williams. He isn't super fast but he can certainly make you miss. Reminds me of Lesean McCoy.
 

Mebert

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Lions have taken 4 Dline in the top 3 rounds in 2 drafts now. If we don't start getting consistent pressure and run stopping in a year or 2 it will be a pretty bad look for the coaches and GM
 

Gulf of Brazil

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Lions have taken 4 Dline in the top 3 rounds in 2 drafts now. If we don't start getting consistent pressure and run stopping in a year or 2 it will be a pretty bad look for the coaches and GM

This is so true. Holmes has spent 10 of his 15 total picks on defense in his two years as GM.
I could see Hutch and Paschal being somewhat eased in early on with snap counts, but this D-Line has to produce this year.
This also will depend on the health of Romeo and Brockers.

Austin Bryant and Julian Okwara are now on notice to be healthy all throughout camp and at the start of the season. Either of these two could be on the short list to make the final 53.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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We've all wanted Lions GMs to draft "football players" that are more athletic.



 

Old Lion

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This is so true. Holmes has spent 10 of his 15 total picks on defense in his two years as GM.
I could see Hutch and Paschal being somewhat eased in early on with snap counts, but this D-Line has to produce this year.
This also will depend on the health of Romeo and Brockers.

Austin Bryant and Julian Okwara are now on notice to be healthy all throughout camp and at the start of the season. Either of these two could be on the short list to make the final 53.
You can say goodbye to Bryant unless he has a huge camp and preseason. That was the first though I had when we drafted Paschal.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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You can say goodbye to Bryant unless he has a huge camp and preseason. That was the first though I had when we drafted Paschal.

If Romeo isn't ready to start the regular season games, then I could see Holmes and DC needing Bryant until he comes back full go. The other avenue is hoping to bring in another strongside end when camp cut-downs happen.

I don't see Bryant staying other than needing him.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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Hutch as the rush end - weakside - We’re going to put him at the rush position in our base. Then he can play either defensive end in the sub package.

Per The Atheltic’s Dane Brugler’s Draft guide (subscription required), Hutchinson posted the quickest “swim rush right” time at the NFL Combine at a blistering 1.69 seconds.

Paschal as the base end - strongside - “We’re going to play him at 5 (outside the tackle) in base,” Wash said.

“We see him possibly going to tackle at some point,” Wash continued. “Paschal is a guy who can play inside and outside. He could be that disruptive three-technique if he’s big enough to handle it in there. He has great flexibility.”

Rush EDGE:

  • Aidan Hutchinson
  • Charles Harris
  • Julian Okwara
  • James Houston
  • Jessie Lemonier
Base end (5T):

  • Romeo Okwara
  • Josh Paschal
  • Austin Bryant
  • Rashod Berry
  • Eric Banks
 

Gulf of Brazil

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When the Detroit Lions bundled three draft picks in a trade package and sent them to the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night, it wasn’t some spontaneous action. Lions GM Brad Holmes and his Minnesota counterpart, Kwesi Adofo-Mensah, had agreed to the basic framework of the trade well before the first round of the 2022 NFL draft.

In a great interview with Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, Holmes explained that the Lions chose to be aggressive there to land one of the top receivers two weeks before the draft. Everyone in Allen Park — notably head coach Dan Campbell and owner Shiela Ford Hamp — agreed this was the proper course of action, so Holmes got busy on the phones.

Holmes called four teams around No. 12, both before and after the Vikings pick, and all four said they were interested in moving down, with everyone realizing contingencies were attached.
A few days later, Holmes followed up with Adofo-Mensah to finalize the parameters of the deal, and after working the phones the morning of the draft, he called the Vikings’ first-year GM around 3 or 4 p.m. Thursday from the Lions’ Allen Park practice facility.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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PFF sees Lions as one of four teams as having most improved units


Most Improved Units

DETROIT LIONS DEFENSIVE LINE

With how the Lions have addressed the past two offseasons, there’s no doubt general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell want to build this roster back up through the trenches. Oregon tackle Penei Sewell was the headliner of a 2021 Lions draft class where the first three selections attacked the offensive and defensive lines. Detroit followed that up by adding two top-50 players on PFF’s big board to its defensive line in the 2022 NFL Draft.

It’s difficult to see Aidan Hutchinson failing to produce in Detroit. The 6-foot-7, 268-pound edge defender out of Michigan might not quite be the athlete that No. 1 overall pick Travon Walker is, but he did earn 95th percentile or better finishes in the change-of-direction drills (shuttle and three-cone). And from a production standpoint, Hutchinson graded out just below the elite Myles GarrettNick BosaChase Young tier over his college career.

Detroit’s second-round selection, Josh Paschal, is an explosive 270-pound edge defender out of Kentucky. He’s not going to consistently win as a pass-rusher, but he will push the pocket and can line up both inside and outside depending on the front. Paschal is coming off a career-best 90.0 PFF grade with the Wildcats in 2021.

The Lions now have an intriguing edge rotation, with Hutchinson and Paschal joining the Okwara brothers and Charles Harris, who is fresh off a two-year, $13 million extension.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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If newly drafted TE James Mitchell can get healthy and make the transition to the NFL, then we should be happy that Holmes drafted him. Obviously, this will be more dependent on Goff having to develop chemistry with Mitchell.


Mitchell is a strong pass-catcher who made plays at several different spots on the field—down the seam, crossers, and even out of the backfield—and projects to be able to translate all of those skills in the NFL. His game has some Charles Clay (Miami Dolphins/Buffalo Bills) vibes to it.

His best trait is his ability to quickly gain separation in his routes and turn it into yards after the catch (YAC). In college, over 70-percent of his receptions went for a first down or touchdown. His basketball background shows up in his contact balance, as he can brush off smaller defenders who don’t take proper angles or aren’t sound in their technique.
 

Gulf of Brazil

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Holmes was already pretty transparent about the move in his post-Day 1 press conference, but he provided Birkett with more important context (subscription required). First, he talked about a remote-dropping moment while watching Williams late in his assessment of the Alabama receiver.

“When I start dropping remotes, that’s when I know,” Holmes said. “You knew about the deep stuff, but when he would start doing the stuff underneath and you watch his kickoff returns and when you start watching him as a gunner, taking gunner reps, and just the fearlessness that he has just as a football player, that’s when it came alive like, ‘Man, this dude’s a dog.’:nod:
 

Gulf of Brazil

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I like how Holmes was looking at the bigger picture of adding to the offense even though I complained - whined - about losing No.66 and dropping 12 down from No.34. He clearly had conviction that Jameson was his guy and no other WR while also noting the huge spike in money being doled out to WR1.


Holmes was asked about the decision to trade up to draft Jameson Williams when so many of the league's top receivers have historically been taken outside the first round. The general manager noted that the rapidly rising costs associated with the position played into the team's thinking.

"Those guys that are going in the second round (or later), there is a big-picture viewpoint with their contracts," Holmes said. "Those guys are really players, then after year three or whatever it is, those guys want to get paid. Their contracts, those contracts are swelling at an alarming amount.

"I would say it's good to have that fifth-year option on a guy like that, when you look at the totality of it," Holmes continued. "With Jameson, specifically, he was a guy where there was total buy-in, total conviction. I was just in love with him. I said, 'Look, this is a guy that we want to get and I think he can be a game-changer for us.'"
 

Gulf of Brazil

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Holmes was ALL-IN from the get-go regarding Paschal too.


As with Williams, Holmes also talked about conviction and buy-in with second-round pick Josh Paschal. The GM admitted he went into the draft fully intent on landing the Kentucky edge rusher.

"The entire building was just in love with the player," Holmes said. "The first time that I watched him on film, I just saw the film and I was like, 'This guy is unbelievable.' Just in terms of his versatility and his explosiveness. He's high motor. He fits all the intangibles that we look for, but then when you learn more about the human being, that was just the icing on top. It was like okay, he was one of those guys, and I told (coach) Dan (Campbell), I said, 'If we don't come off with this guy, I'm going to be mad.'"
 
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