Mike Payton discusses the three undrafted free agents (Jackson Meeks, Zach Horton, Keith Cooper Jr.) you should be keeping an eye on that have great potential to make the cut for the final Detroit Lions 53-man roster
00:00There are three undrafted free agents that you really need to know about.
00:04These guys could be making the Lions 53-man roster this year.
00:07Let's talk about it.
00:11Hi, it's Mike Payton from A to Z Sports Detroit.
00:13Today we're going to talk about three undrafted free agents that have a very good chance of making the Lions 53-man roster this year.
00:21Let's jump right into it with Jackson Meeks, wide receiver.
00:24This guy has an ability to make some crazy contested catches.
00:29He can't really separate all that well, but he just catches the ball no matter what happens.
00:34He's kind of like a Kenny Galladay in a sense that Galladay really struggled to get separation and get away from people, but he could still just make that catch.
00:43He could go up and high point and contest.
00:45That's the kind of player that Jackson Meeks is, and I think that that's going to be enough to get him over to be that six-wide receiver on the depth chart.
00:53Maybe even jump over seventh-round pick Dominic Lovett.
00:57I really see a potential with this guy.
00:58Also, if you watch his film, he's not easy to tackle.
01:02He's a guy that just continues to strive forward.
01:04A real Dan Campbell-type receiver just continues to fight and fight and fight.
01:09Hard to take down.
01:10Somebody to definitely keep an eye on.
01:12The next guy is Zach Horton, tight end.
01:15I know the Lions have Sam Laporta, their number one tight end, but after that, I mean, it's really wide open as to who could make it.
01:22Brock Wright is seemingly in that position, has it locked down at tight end to, I wouldn't say it's guaranteed, but he's got a really good shot of holding that down.
01:31And then there's Kenny Yeboah, there's Shane Zylstra, but a guy who could really add some extra stuff is Horton.
01:38And the reason why is because he is a tremendous run-blocking tight end.
01:42And that's something that even Laporta and Wright and all these other guys aren't really that good at.
01:47They could do it, certainly, but they're not as good at it as Horton has shown to be at Indiana.
01:56Not much of a pass-catching tight end, but with Laporta, they don't really need an extra guy like that.
02:01But the other thing that he could bring is he could also be a fullback.
02:04And that would also prevent the Lions from having to use somebody like Grant Stewart or Malcolm Rodriguez to come play a fullback for them when they decide they want to use one.
02:14Horton is somebody you really got to keep your eye on.
02:17He could be somebody who could really show off in the preseason and really show off this summer at training camp
02:22and find a way onto this roster.
02:24The last guy is edge rusher Keith Cooper.
02:26I know Lions fans really want an edge rusher to show up and be the guy.
02:30He could certainly be a guy.
02:32I mean, he could be in the depth.
02:34He could be in the rotation, the bottom of the rotation, but he could be there.
02:38This guy had a really tremendous rookie minicamp, solid OTAs.
02:42Everybody was talking about him.
02:43He's a guy much like Isaac Uku was last year, just on the mind of the writers and on the mind of anyone who's seen him.
02:50He's got his work cut out for him this summer at training camp.
02:53Not going to be easy to make the 53-man roster as an edge rusher on this team.
02:57But I think if there's any guy outside of the first few that I named that could potentially make it, it's Keith Cooper.
03:03And I'm really interested to see how he does with the pads on in preseason as well.
03:08This could be a big summer for him.
03:10We'll see what happens.
03:11We'll talk to you guys next time.
03:12Let me know what you think in the comments below.
