Draft season is upon us ladies and gentlemen! With the NFL Draft less than a month away, I thought it would be a good time to drop a full 7 round mock; with trades! But this year, I wanted to do it a bit differently. Instead of your basic 7 round mock where you scroll through pages of picks and find your team’s selections with relatively no commentary, I decided to break the mock up and do an article on each individual team’s haul! Giving you a breakdown of what each team brought in and how I think it could help. So without further adieu, let’s kick things off!
With the 15th pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions select…
- Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama(1st round)- TRADE with Patriots
- Asante Samuel Jr, CB, FSU(2nd round)
- Chazz Surratt, LB, UNC(3rd round)
- Jaylen Twyman, DT, Pittsburgh(3rd round)
- Darius Stills, DT, West Virginia(4th round)
- Caden Sterns, S, Texas(4th round)- TRADE with Patriots
- Sam Ehlinger, QB, Texas(5th round)
TRADE ALERT!! The Lions work out a deal with the Patriots and move back to acquire more draft capital(complete deal in the Pats recap). With the Lions having many areas of need, it is wise to get as much future draft capital as possible to help expedite the rebuild.
With their first pick, the Lions end up landing one of the more impressive and dynamic WRs in this draft; Jaylen Waddle. Waddle is up there with Chase/Smith in regards to who the best receiver is with many draftniks ranking Waddle as high as #1. Waddle has blazing speed and is incredible with the ball in his hands. He is a huge mismatch and is a good starting point for a rebuild. The only other addition they make to their offense during the draft is a late-round selection of Sam Ehlinger. Ehlinger was a highly rated prospect and had success at Texas. I am not sure if he will ever be good enough to be the full-time starter, but he is worth a flyer late in the draft.
On the defensive side of the ball, they add a highly rated corner in Asante Samuel, Jr. Samuel is the son of former NFL corner Asante Samuel. He is a very solid cover corner with excellent ball skills. He will likely line up in the slot but has the ability to cover pretty much anyone. Chazz Surratt is also a very good addition to the defense. He is very versatile, can rush the passer, and is the type of linebacker that can man the middle for many years. Both Twyman and Stills are athletic defensive tackles that can push back the line and get after the QB. Caden Sterns was their last defensive pick. A big, athletic safety that was rated as a 1st rounder at one point. He can provide a ton of upside to this team and at worst, is a good pick to provide depth.
Overall, I like what the Lions did in this draft. They were able to move back, get more draft capital to help with the rebuild, and also landed an elite player. They were able to land a ton of players with high-upside and if one or two of these players can hit their ceiling, it will go a long way to completing the rebuild.
