{"id":870788,"date":"2026-04-20T20:12:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870788\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T20:12:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T20:12:58","slug":"nfl-mock-draft-top-10-players-paired-with-detroit-lions-in-espn-simulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/870788\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL mock draft: Top 10 players paired with Detroit Lions in ESPN simulator"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the end of the regular season, we\u2019ve been tracking which players national NFL Draft analysts have been mock drafting to the Detroit Lions on a weekly basis<\/a>. It\u2019s a fun exercise to see what national analysts think, and it\u2019s a good way to introduce our audience to some of the top prospects that may be available for the Lions with the 17th overall pick.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s turn that on its head a little. ESPN has their own mock draft simulator<\/a>, as many sites do. But they also have a website that provides analytics on how users are selecting in their mock drafts<\/a>. You can view the stats for literally all 257 selections in the draft, and see which players are most often paired with each pick.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s focus on the Detroit Lions for now. Here\u2019s a list of the top-10 players most commonly mocked to the Lions using ESPN\u2019s simulator.<\/p>\n

1. Alabama OT Kadyn Proctor \u2014 29% of selections<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, Proctor tops the list given the high amount of rumors and buzz surrounding the pick. The 6-foot-7, 352-pound offensive tackle has been a polarizing option all offseason, but it\u2019s easy to like what he\u2019d bring to the Lions\u2019 run game.<\/p>\n

2. Georgia OT Monroe Freeling \u2014 21% of selections<\/p>\n

Freeling gets dinged for only starting about 1.5 seasons for the Bulldogs, but his measurables and marked improvement have him rising up many draft boards. For what it\u2019s worth, 12% of mock draft users have Freeling going 13th to the Rams. It\u2019s worth noting in our final mock draft roundup, Freeling was the most common pairing with Detroit, followed closely by Proctor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Penn State G Vega Ioane \u2014 14% of selections<\/p>\n

Some argue the best offensive line prospect in this year\u2019s class, Ioane may not play a premium position\u2014and isn\u2019t at the Lions\u2019 biggest of needs\u2014but he would come in an immediately upgrade Detroit\u2019s left guard position. Ioane, though, is most commonly mocked to the Ravens (36%).<\/p>\n

4. Miami EDGE Akheem Mesidor \u2014 13% of selections<\/p>\n

A highly-productive pass rusher in college (35.5 sacks over six seasons, 12.5 last year), some have questions about his age (25) and benefiting from teammate Rueben Bain. But he would immediately be the best option opposite Aidan Hutchinson. It\u2019s worth noting Mesidor was selected 33% of the time for Pick 15 (Buccaneers).<\/p>\n

5. Utah OT Spencer Fano \u2014 4.1% of selections<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a pretty big drop-off here, but Fano would be a nice pickup for Detroit. While many view it as unlikely he\u2019ll fall this far, Fano doesn\u2019t have a bigger than a 4.8% selection percentage with any team above Detroit\u2014although he\u2019s only available 10% of ESPN\u2019s simulated mocks.<\/p>\n

6. Utah OT Caleb Lomu \u2014 4.0% of selections<\/p>\n

Fano\u2019s teammate\u2014and Utah left tackle\u2014is selected nearly as many times, and is projected to be far more commonly available. He\u2019s still on the board at 17 overall 99% of simulations, making this a more realistic pick, but possibly a selection that could be made later in the draft.<\/p>\n

7. Clemson EDGE T.J. Parker \u2014 3.5% of selections<\/p>\n

Erik Schlitt was able to nab Parker in the second round of our Community Mock Draft, so this would be a bit of an overdraft. However, Schlitt makes a compelling case for his fit here.<\/a><\/p>\n

8. Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk \u2014 2.7% of selections<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a bit surprising to see Faulk so far down this list, as he\u2019s an excellent schematic fit for Detroit and plays a big position of need. However, ESPN users clearly think he should go later in the draft, as 11% of mockers placed him to the Chargers (Pick 22), 14% to the Eagles (23), 16% to the Bears (25), and 19% to the Bills (26).<\/p>\n

9. Oregon TE Kenyon Sadiq \u2014 2.2% of the selections<\/p>\n

This would certainly be an outside-the-box pick, but with no current Lions tight ends signed beyond 2026, it\u2019s not an impossibility. If Lions general manager Brad Holmes truly believed in pure best player available, Sadiq could be the pick, as only 59% of mocks had him available at 17.<\/p>\n

10. Clemson CB Avieon Terrell \u2014 1.4% of the selections<\/p>\n

A bit early for Terrell, who projects to be a nickel cornerback with some outside versatility. But his competitive spirit and willingness in the run game will certainly have Detroit\u2019s eye.<\/p>\n

Clemson OT Blake Miller (13th, 1.0% of selections) \u2014 One of our favorite fits in Detroit, ESPN mockers have him going way later in the darft.Arizona State OT Max Iheanachor (17th, 0.3%) \u2014 Another fit with the Lions that mockers have going way, way later. Iheanachor (4.2%) is the fourth-most common pairing with the Lions for Pick 50, behind Illinois EDGE Gabe Jacas (42%), Texas Tech LB Jacob Rodriguez (16%), and Iowa OL Gennings Dunker (11%).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the end of the regular season, we\u2019ve been tracking which players national NFL Draft analysts have been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":870789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[449,448,5105,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-870788","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-detroit-lions-analysis","9":"tag-detroit-lions-draft","10":"tag-detroit-lions-mock-draft","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116438865577807999","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870788","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=870788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/870789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}