The Lions Draft Class Shows A CLEAR Vision For This Team...

AtoZ Sports

Mike Payton recaps and reacts to the Detroit Lions full 2025 NFL Draft class, discussing each pick, the pros and the cons, and where the Lions go from here.

Transcript

00:00The 2025 NFL Draft is in the books and it is time to recap everything that the Detroit Lions did in

00:05this year's draft and give some thoughts on each player. Let's jump into it.

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

00:16the 2025 NFL Draft and everything that the Detroit Lions did. Let's not waste any time.

00:21Let's get right into it. We'll start with Tyleek Williams. Now the initial response that I had on

00:26this player, it wasn't that great, you know, and that's kind of, that's reactionary. That's just

00:32how this game is. You know, these things happen. You, you jump in with your first reaction and

00:38that's what you go with. And then you take some time, you learn more about the player. You learn,

00:42you get a chance to interview him. You get a chance to hear what he has to say, all those things.

00:47And after that, that made quite a difference. Now I'm not saying that the Lions still couldn't

00:53have gotten a better player. I mean, I still think that, you know, there were some really

00:56good edge rushers there, but regardless, the Lions are building a wall with this defensive line and

01:03good luck trying to run on guys like Tyleek Williams and Aileen McNeil once they are at full

01:07strength. And the good thing, speaking of Aileen McNeil is a good thing is that, Hey, you're going

01:11to have a guy who's going to start in the meantime while you wait for McNeil to get back, which might

01:16not be till November. Next pick is Tate Radledge. I love this pick. This is a great, great value for the

01:22Lions. He can start at right guard immediately. This will push a battle over to the left side

01:27with Christian Mahogany and Graham Glasgow. I kind of leaning towards Mahogany at this time,

01:32but this is like a whole brand new offensive line. Maybe at some point, and Brad Holmes talked about

01:38this after, after the draft, there's a possibility that the Lions could maybe look at Radledge like

01:43a center and that there will be some cross training going on there. So we'll see where that

01:47one goes, but this guy's a starter immediately. Next pick is Isaac Teslaw. Now this one kind of

01:53shocked everybody because the Lions kind of went all in on this. Not only did they trade their third

01:58rounder, they trade their two future third rounders as well, just to move up to 70 to get this kid.

02:04And when you, when you see the tape, when, when you don't look at the, you know, the stats and

02:09all that, when you see the tape, you see a guy who just blocks like crazy. You see a guy who can

02:15high point the ball has that four, four speed has one of the highest verticals in the entire draft

02:20fifth among receivers. Just this guy has some ability that I just don't think Arkansas knew

02:27what to do with or knew how to unlock, or just wasn't a good enough offense, good enough team to

02:31really get much going on offense. It's not like Arkansas was a, you know, like a perennial

02:37championship team or anything like they weren't that great. So I think that the Lions are looking

02:43at Tesla, like he could be a bigger deal than maybe you might think he is. And, and I think

02:49just looking at the tape, it's just looking at everything. He's capable of the athleticism and

02:53all the, all the, the whole package. I think this is a guy that could supplant Tim Patrick immediately

02:59take over that wide receiver, wide receiver three spot, be the X guy there. This is a really good

03:05pick. We'll see where it goes. Then the Lions took miles Frazier from LSU. This is one I love.

03:10I mocked Frazier to the Lions multiple times throughout the pre-draft process. Love what

03:16this guy's capable of doing so much versatility could play left tackle, right tackle, left guard,

03:20right guard. Maybe you could try him at center. There's so much that he can do. And I don't know

03:26if he starts right away, but he could be almost like an Evan Brown was back when he was here where

03:31he's like a, a do all type priority premium depth type player who could just fit in anywhere you need

03:37him to fit in. If there's any sort of injuries, you got to love a player like that. I think that

03:42this guy is going to absolutely make the Lions really happy and could potentially like be a

03:47starter at some point. If they make Rattledge a center, they could give him one of the guard

03:51spots. We'll see where that goes. Next one is my favorite pick of them all. And I think it's

03:56probably most Lions fans, a favorite pick of them all. Cause it's the edge. We're talking about

04:00Ahmed Hassanin from Boise state. This guy, I mean, I don't, if you haven't seen the video of him

04:06getting his phone call from the Lions, you need to go see it right after you get done watching this

04:10video. He's on there saying, he's telling Dan Campbell, I'll die for you. I will die on that

04:16field for you. I just want you to believe in me. It's just an unbelievable thing. He's crying. It's

04:20a beautiful, beautiful thing to watch this guy. You know, I've been studying him since March. I cannot

04:27believe that we have not been talking more about him because there is so much to this player and it's

04:33not just, you know, his story, which is great where he came from Egypt and just started playing

04:38football a few years ago. It's how he's actually taken to the game and you see him out there. He's,

04:44he's happy. He's playing really well. He had 62 pressures and 12 sacks for Boise state last year.

04:48He wasn't just a guy who's, Hey, you know, he's got some athleticism. Maybe there's a long-term

04:53project there. I think there is some development that they need to do with him, but like this guy,

04:58he's ready to go. And I think you're going to see an instant impact from him. If you're hoping

05:03to have your guy opposite Aiden Hutchinson, I think that this can be that guy and what a value

05:08the Lions got on him. Next up is safety Dan Jackson. Uh, I'll be honest. I hadn't, hadn't seen a

05:13whole lot on Jackson. He is, uh, you know, from what I understand, he's going to be a special teams

05:18guy can come in, fight Lauren Strickland and Morris Norris for the, for that, you know, special teams

05:23spot. Maybe that third safety spot. I still think that's probably going to Vontae Maddox at the end

05:28of the day, but I definitely, you know, I'm going to watch a little bit more on him and get a little

05:33bit more educated, but right now he looks like a special teams help. And then the final pick is

05:38Dominic Lovett wide receiver from Georgia. This guy is a, he's really small. He's five, 10, 185 pounds,

05:46but really fast for four speed, kind of like Khalif Raymond. He's, he's almost, you know,

05:51the same type of body size, same type of play style has some problems with drops, but you know,

05:57maybe that's something that they'll have to work on. But I see him potentially having a chance to be

06:02the successor as the return man there. Somebody that you can, you know, kind of go out wide with

06:07or in the back rather, you know, passes into the flat, that sort of thing.

06:13Screen plays like this guy, there's some, there's some stuff you could do with him there. I don't

06:17really see him as the slot receiver that they might, you know, that people are kind of

06:21pegging him to be, but we'll see where they go with that. I think he's going to be a really good

06:26special teams help as a gunner or as a return man. We'll see what happens. That's the end of the,

06:32the recap here. The lions had a really good draft, walked out with three starters. I think three guys

06:39that are going to go ahead and contribute right away. And then a few guys that are going to be

06:44really great depth pieces and could be more in the future. We'll see what happens. We'll talk to you

06:50next time.

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