{"id":868502,"date":"2026-04-17T16:12:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868502\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:12:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:12:34","slug":"a-sneaky-option-for-lions-top-pick-might-be-hiding-in-plain-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/868502\/","title":{"rendered":"A sneaky option for Lions&#8217; top pick might be hiding in plain sight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5n\">The Detroit Lions&#8217; list of (reported) 30 visits is very, very short. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5q\">While other teams have been keeping fans extensively up to date about which prospects they&#8217;re meeting with ahead of the 2026 NFL draft, the Lions<a href=\"https:\/\/sidelionreport.com\/local-prospect-added-to-lions-30-visit-list-as-nfl-draft-draws-near-01kng35s3qb9\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> have been fairly inactive<\/a>. That&#8217;s a little surprising, considering they have a few holes that could easily be filled as early as Day 1 or 2 of the process. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5t\">However, that doesn&#8217;t mean their <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/detroit-lions-news\/detroit-lions-top-30-visit-and-pre-draft-meeting-tracker\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">short list of visitors <\/a>isn&#8217;t indicative of which way the wind is blowing in relation to their 17th or 50th overall pick. One reported visit, with defensive tackle Caleb Banks, could very well tell us everything about what they&#8217;re looking for next week. While they&#8217;ve also reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RapSheet\/status\/2044468359522132042?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">met with Kadyn Proctor<\/a>, another potential top pick, Banks&#8217; name is pretty intriguing. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5w\">The former Florida Gator has some injury history, but he&#8217;s an impressive, explosive lineman who could be snagged in the first round. <\/p>\n<p>Lions&#8217; top pick could be hiding in plain sight<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"62\">Banks&#8217; visit, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/zach_goodall\/status\/2037225711857959063?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">reported on<\/a> by 247Sports&#8217; Zach Goodall, is the only visit reported on between the Lions and a potential pick that could actually make sense for them on Day 1 or 2. FanSided&#8217;s Mike Luciano <a href=\"https:\/\/fansided.com\/nfl\/2026-nfl-draft-big-board\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">recently shared<\/a> a quick profile on Banks on his big board, sharing: <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"65\">&#8220;Banks has two major red flags. On top of the fact he played in just a handful of games due to an injury, he is not a very good run stuffer despite the size advantage he had. He&#8217;s still worth a pick high in the draft, as there are some genuinely rare traits that he has in terms of athletic prowess. Banks&#8217; movement skills for his size are special, and it isn&#8217;t hyperbole to suggest the ceiling for him could be an All-Pro tackle.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"68\">This would be <a href=\"https:\/\/atozsports.com\/nfl\/what-brad-holmes-and-the-lions-success-rate-with-acquiring-players-with-injury-histories-is-and-how-little-this-actually-happens\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">yet another gamble<\/a> taken by the Lions in the draft. When they&#8217;ve hit on injured college stars, they&#8217;ve really hit: Aidan Hutchinson and Jameson Williams are the two best examples of this strategy, with both earning major extensions last year. But, when they&#8217;ve missed, the whiffs were loud. Hendon Hooker is their <a href=\"https:\/\/sidelionreport.com\/panthers-learn-the-lesson-lions-did-a-long-time-ago-with-hendon-hooker-release-01k98ap9cntz\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">most recent failure<\/a> on that front, with the backup quarterback never shaping up in the Lions&#8217; system. <\/p>\n<p>READ MORE: <a href=\"https:\/\/sidelionreport.com\/lions-gm-brad-holmes-isn-t-ruling-out-making-a-bold-move-in-the-2026-draft-01kp6c2t4vxb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lions GM Brad Holmes isn\u2019t ruling out making a bold move in the 2026 Draft<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6e\">Levi Onwuzurike is another example of a miss by general manager Brad Holmes, but it also feels a little too early to tell with the young defensive end.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6h\">Banks fits the Lions&#8217; draft profile, though. They love big, imposing defensive linemen with pass rushing upside, although they&#8217;d be sacrificing the addition of a better run defender if they took Banks early on in this draft. And, as<a href=\"https:\/\/sidelionreport.com\/ian-rapoport-thinks-the-lions-may-have-something-big-in-mind-for-the-draft-01kp6cq9p79e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> reported on<\/a> recently by NFL Network&#8217;s Ian Rapoport, the Lions could be looking to literally make a big move in the draft &#8211; as in, take a large player. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-primary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6k\">With so many potential late round picks mixed into the short list of Lions visit in this pre-draft cycle, and just one visit with a potential top-30 pick, it sure does feel like Banks has been there all along as Detroit&#8217;s favorite prospect fairly early in the draft. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow sidelionreport.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=sidelionreport.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions&#8217; list of (reported) 30 visits is very, very short. While other teams have been keeping&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-868502","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116420933398583139","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868502","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=868502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}