4 SURPRISING Players The Lions Could Target In The 1st Round Of The Draft...

AtoZ Sports

Mike Payton talks about 4 prospects from this Draft class, that the Lions could take in the 1st round, despite them being big surprises.

Transcript

00:00I've got four players for you that would shock the world if the Lions drafted these guys at 28,

00:06but it actually kind of makes sense that they would. Let's talk about it.

00:12Hi, Mike Payton from A to Z Sports Detroit. Today we're going to talk about four players

00:16that the Lions could take with a 28th pick that would shock the world but would make some sense.

00:21Let's jump right into Ole Miss quarterback Jackson Dart. Now, Dart is expected to be

00:25drafted by the Steelers. That's what everybody thinks is going to happen. But if they don't

00:29do that, if they wind up going with Jalen Milrow or Tyler Shug, that could push Dart down to the

00:36second round and the Lions could have a chance to get him at 28 before he gets there. And the reason

00:41you'd want to do that is obviously Dart is the youngest quarterback in this draft. There's a

00:46ton of upside, a ton of first round upside with this guy. You put him on the bench for a few years

00:52under Jared Goff. You let him grow. You let him learn, similar to what the Chiefs did with Patrick

00:57Holmes or the Packers with Jordan Love. And eventually you have your quarterback of the

01:02future, your starting guy. You have a smooth transition from Goff to Dart. It makes a lot

01:08of sense. I know it's not what Lions fans want at 28, but man, that's why would you pass that up?

01:14The next guy is Kentucky cornerback Maxwell Hairston, a local guy from the Detroit area.

01:20I know the Lions had him in for a top 30 visit. This one doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me,

01:25but clearly the Lions are interested. I think Detroit has put a lot of assets and money into

01:32that cornerback room and they've built a pretty good one, pretty young and good room. But if they

01:37want to double down, triple down, quadruple down this off season to just have one of the best

01:44secondaries in the league, they could shock everybody and take Hairston at 28. There have

01:49been some people that have mocked him to the Lions. I know Matt Miller recently did one for ESPN that

01:53had Hairston at 28. It's something people are thinking about. We'll see what happens. I don't

01:59like that one, but it could possibly happen. Next up, we have Michigan tight end Colston Loveland.

02:04This is a guy, obviously, a lot of Lions fans are familiar with. Lions fans who are Wolverines fans.

02:09They all know what this guy's capable of. A great pass catcher, strong blocker, someone that's expected

02:16to go probably in the upper 20s. The Chargers are a team that seemed to be linked to him. A lot of

02:22popular option for him. The Lions do have Sam Laporta. They don't necessarily need another tight end. We

02:28know that, but they have done a lot of work about tight ends during the pre-draft process at the

02:35combine, top 30s, all the all-star games, pro bowl or pro days. Sorry. They have looked at tight ends

02:42this entire time, and a lot of the reasons they're looking for guys is guys that can block, but can

02:47also do some pass catching. And here's an opportunity for the Lions to have their very own

02:53two tight end set of guys who could block and can go out and catch the ball and do things with it

03:00afterwards. I mean, that is, man, can you imagine an offense with Sam Laporta and Colston Loveland,

03:05along with Jamison Williams and Amin Ross St. Brown and Jameer Gibbs, David Montgomery?

03:09Man, that is quite a unit. Speaking of David Montgomery, I know Lions fans love David Montgomery.

03:17I love him too. There's what's not to love, Sonic and Knuckles. It's fun. It's awesome.

03:22The Lions just extended Montgomery. But what they also did in that extension is they cleared out all

03:28his guaranteed money after 2025. So there's a chance that the Lions could be looking for his

03:34replacement. We know they've already brought in Cam Scatboo for a top 30 visit. They've

03:39spoken to other running backs at the formal combines and pro days and all-star games. They've

03:46been looking at running backs this entire time. What if a guy like North Carolina's Omari and Hampton

03:52falls to 28? That's a very good running back. That's running back two in this draft right behind

03:59Ashton Chenteev from Boise State. This is a guy that, I mean, he runs exactly like David Montgomery

04:06runs. Just power, but also can juke you out of your shoes. Just has a bunch of speed. Somebody

04:13that, man, if he's there at 28, it would be really interesting. The Lions could potentially

04:18look to just grab a guy. Again, they are not a needs-based drafting team. They want to draft

04:25the best players. And if that is one of the players that is there, he is one of the best

04:29players in this draft. I would not be shocked at all if they did it.

04:32Do I think it's going to happen? Probably not, because he's probably going to be gone

04:36before then either. But man, if it did, it's really something you got to look at.

04:42We'll see what happens this week. Let me know what you guys think in the comments below.

04:45We'll see you next time.

Category

Transcript

Recommended