April 5, 2026, 10:35 a.m. ET<\/p>\n
With nine picks in the upcoming 2026 NFL draft<\/a>, the Detroit Lions<\/a> have an opportunity to address some of their key needs and to hopefully restock towards a return trip to the NFC Championship game and beyond.<\/p>\n As the draft in Pittsburgh creeps closer, ESPN’s Matt Miller put together a full seven-round mock draft<\/a>. Who do the Lions draft in Miller’s seven-round mock?<\/p>\n Here’s how Miller sees the Lions’ nine selections unfolding:<\/p>\n ESPN 7-round Detroit Lions 2026 NFL mock draftRound 1 (No. 17 overall): Georgia<\/a> OT, Monroe FreelingRound 2 (No. 50 overall): UCF EDGE, Malachi LawrenceRound 4 (No. 118 overall): Michigan<\/a> LB, Jimmy RolderRound 4 (No. 128 overall): Clemson<\/a> DT, DeMonte CapehartRound 5 (No. 157 overall): Virginia RB, J’Mari TaylorRound 5 (No. 181 overall): Texas Tech WR, Reggie VirgilRound 6 (No. 205 overall): Baylor QB, Sawyer RobertsonRound 6 (No. 213 overall): Iowa G, Beau StephensRound 7 (No. 222 overall): Washington CB, Ephesians PrysockExpert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n Here’s what Miller wrote about the Lions’ projected first-round selection, Georgia offensive tackle Monroe Freeling:<\/p>\n Taylor Decker’s release leaves an opening at left tackle barring a move from Penei Sewell from the right side. Either way, the Lions need tackle help. Freeling was a one-year starter at Georgia but has elite traits in terms of movement, size (6-foot-7, 315 pounds) and 4.93 speed. Freeling is one of the few proven left tackles with a Round 1 grade and has the upside of a higher-end starter thanks to his upper-level athletic skills plus his development over the course of the 2025 season. – Matt Miller, ESPN<\/p>\n And on Detroit’s second-round selection, UCF EDGE Malachi Lawrence:<\/p>\n We’ve been begging for the Lions to pick an edge rusher to play opposite Aidan Hutchinson. Lawrence is a speedy, upside rusher with 4.52 speed and a 253-pound frame. He can easily slot in for departed free agent Al-Quadin Muhammad and be a Week 1 starter. – Matt Miller, ESPN<\/p>\n Detroit addresses its two largest needs with its first two selections under this projection. Then, the Lions make selections at linebacker and defensive tackle before a run of four offensive players and capping the draft with some corner help.<\/p>\n What do you think?<\/p>\n For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Josh on X,\u00a0@JoshOnLions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 5, 2026, 10:35 a.m. ET With nine picks in the upcoming 2026 NFL draft, the Detroit Lions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":848446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[95878,146,113,2506,7,147,5264,6,52959,96502,97086,95882,96512,95892,95893,95896,95888,95906,97070,95883,99521,95881],"class_list":{"0":"post-856375","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-detroit","10":"tag-detroit-lions","11":"tag-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-mi","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-sstssportsnfllions","17":"tag-sstsnlions","18":"tag-tagaidan-hutchinson","19":"tag-tagamerican-football","20":"tag-tagdetroit","21":"tag-tagespn-inc","22":"tag-tagfacebook","23":"tag-tagnational-sports","24":"tag-tagnfl","25":"tag-tagoverall-positive","26":"tag-tagpenei-sewell","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-tagtaylor-decker","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116356044279442519","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856375","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=856375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/856375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=856375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=856375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=856375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}