![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27299772-scaled.jpg\")
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The Detorit Lions have been telling us for years how they like to do the draft. Today we attempt to actually listen to them<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAaron Doster-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Earlier today, we wrote a story about how we\u2019re all looking at the Detroit Lions\u2019 draft strategy the wrong way. With that in mind, we wanted to do a mock draft a little earlier in the week than usual to demonstrate what that could look like.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The three tenets here are\u2026<\/p>\n
best player available, not need<\/p>\n
Positional versatility<\/p>\n
Go get your guy<\/p>\n
In addition to that, we\u2019re excited to announce our brand new mock draft simulator. The A to Z Sports NFL mock draft simulator offers a deeply customizable and data-driven experience with never-before-seen features. Try the mock draft simulator today,<\/a> before the 2026 NFL Draft arrives! Here are our picks.<\/p>\n \t\t\tTable of contents<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t 17th pick: Vega Ioane, IOL, Penn State<\/p>\n We\u2019ll start it off with the first tenet. Everyone believes the Lions will take a tackle at this point in the draft because that\u2019s a big need, but keep in mind that the Lions just don\u2019t work that way very often. They go after the best player available, and at 17, if Ioane is there, he is the best player the Lions could win up with.<\/p>\n We\u2019re talking about a guy who might be the most NFL-ready prospect in the first round or close to it. If the Lions took him, they have thier starting left guard for the next decade plus. <\/p>\n 50th pick: Jake Golday, LB, Cincinnati<\/p>\n Yes, the Lions are taking a linebacker high again. But this is the point here. Best player available. When you get to 50, most of the top tackles are gone, and so are the top edge rushers. This does not mean there aren\u2019t good players left. We\u2019ll get to the plan for both of those positions soon.<\/p>\n Golday is a very good Will linebacker coming in to replace the Will linebacker the Lions just lost in Alex Anzalone. He can pass rush, he\u2019s great in coverage, and he\u2019s very good against the run. Exactly what the Lions are looking for. <\/p>\n Trade up with the Jaguars<\/p>\n Now it\u2019s time to get into the zone where the Lions go get their guy. To do that, they\u2019re going to do a move they usually do, trade up. This time, they\u2019re doing it with the Jaguars to get into the third round. The Jags send away one of their three third-round picks. <\/p>\n Lions get: 88th pick 88th pick: Derrick Moore, Edge, Michigan<\/p>\n The Lions want an edge rusher who can do more than one thing, and Moore is that guy. He can rush the passer very well. He had 41 pressures and 11 sacks in 2025. He can also stop the run really well. Plus, he can drop into coverage and play well enough to make things happen. This guy has Lions written all over him. This fits the go get your guy mold and positional versatility.<\/p>\n 128th pick: Travis Burke, OT, Memphis<\/p>\n It\u2019s probably time to go get that tackle right? I know the response is going to be \u201cI can\u2019t believe you waited till the fourth round to get a tackle.\u201d But I really think Lions fans might be in denial that Larry Borom is probably going to be their right tackle in 2026. <\/p>\n With Burke, the Lions get a guy that teams have been super interested in as of late. He\u2019s doing a lot of top 30 visits right now, and when you see what he did at Memphis, you can understand why. He was their starting right tackle in 2025 and allowed just 13 pressures and three sacks. On top of that, he put up elite run-blocking grades.<\/p>\n He\u2019d previously been a left tackle, but moved to the right for Memphis, and it really unlocked what he had been missing. Did I mention that he\u2019s a giant? At 6-foot-9, he\u2019s the next Dan Skipper, but with more upside. That\u2019s what the Lions want here. <\/p>\n This is not Giovanni Manu. You do not have to teach Burke how to play football. This kid is ready to go, and that size profile and athleticism are something to behold. Give him a year behind Borom, and he\u2019s ready to go.<\/p>\n 157th pick: Anthony Lucas, Edge, USC<\/p>\n Ok, now the Lions are doubling up on edge. Lucas brings that dual threat ability of being able to rush the passer and stop the run. He just has a lot less experience than Moore. But Lucas did start for the Trojans all season in 2025, and he played very well.<\/p>\n Late Round Picks<\/p>\n 181st pick: Nick Barrett, DT, South Carolina<\/p>\n 205th pick: Thaddeus Dixon, CB, North Carolina<\/p>\n 213th pick: Logan Fano, Edge, Utah<\/p>\n 222nd pick: Marlin Klein, TE, Michigan<\/p>\n \t\t\t Detroit Lions News<\/p>\n 2026 NFL Draft<\/a> Detroit Lions News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detorit Lions have been telling us for years how they like to do the draft. Today we…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[4955,146,113,153,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-847380","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-2026-nfl-draft","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroit-lions-news","12":"tag-detroitlions","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-lions","15":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116330227562962119","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\t\t\t\t\t17th pick: Vega Ioane, IOL, Penn State
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t50th pick: Jake Golday, LB, Cincinnati
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tTrade up with the Jaguars
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t88th pick: Derrick Moore, Edge, Michigan
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t128th pick: Travis Burke, OT, Memphis
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t157th pick: Anthony Lucas, Edge, USC
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\tLate Round Picks
\n\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n
Jaguars get: 118th pick and a 2027 fourth-round pick<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_21489774.jpg\")
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