He might be the smallest cornerback in the NFL once he\u2019s drafted, but might also be the guy that matters for the least. This guy can play<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t![\"Indiana](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27762016-scaled.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDec 6, 2025; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Indiana Hoosiers defensive back D\u2019Angelo Ponds (5) celebrates in the second half against the Ohio State Buckeyes during the 2025 Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRobert Goddin-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
We\u2019re getting closer and closer to the 2026 NFL Draft for the Detroit Lions. With that in mind, we\u2019re starting our new series called The Lions Should Draft This Guy. We\u2019re going to profile a bunch of players we feel the Lions would love, and talk about their positives and negatives. Follow along! Here\u2019s who we\u2019ve covered so far:<\/p>\n
The Positives of D\u2019Angelo Ponds<\/p>\n
His size is going to be pointed out a lot. Ponds is 5-foot-8 and 182 pounds. He\u2019s very small. But as the headline says, he plays like a guy who is much bigger than him. Plus, the Lions do not care about measureables. <\/p>\n
Ponds was Pro Football Focus\u2019s eighth-highest graded cornerback in the country last year. His 89.6 coverage grade was the seventh best. He allowed a passer rating of 55.4, had nine pass breakups, and two picks.<\/p>\n
Ponds can play on the inside and outside. In Detroit, it fits well as a slot corner where the Lions have Roger McCreary on a one-year deal, but don\u2019t have anyone beyond that, unless you count Ennis Rakestraw. Something the Lions are experimenting with, but haven\u2019t been able to play yet. <\/p>\n
The other great thing about Ponds is that he was pretty solid in the run game as well. Something the Lions are looking for everyone on defense to be good at. PFF gave him an 86 run defense grade in 2025.<\/p>\n
The Concerns<\/p>\n
Yes, the Lions don\u2019t care about measureables, but Ponds is incredibly small. Whichever team takes him would have one of the smallest cornerbacks in the league. That is worth being prepared for when you\u2019ll have him covering some larger receivers here and there. Even though that hasn\u2019t affected him in the past. <\/p>\n
He should have had more than two interceptions last year. He had some dropped ones. Killing a play is cool, but killing a drive with a turnover is way better. I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s a giant career-long problem, but it was in 2025. <\/p>\n
The Lions would want him in the slot, but he hasn\u2019t played there since high school. He\u2019s always been on the outside. So there could be a little rust once he\u2019s back there. <\/p>\n
\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_23017631-scaled.jpg\")
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Detroit Lions News<\/p>\n
2026 NFL Draft<\/a> Detroit Lions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He might be the smallest cornerback in the NFL once he\u2019s drafted, but might also be the guy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[4955,146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865652","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-detroitlions","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-lions","14":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116398767617804357","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865652","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=865652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}