The 2026 NFL Draft is just two days away, and reporters are busy contacting all of their sources to get the last ounce of rumors out there before the three-day event.<\/p>\n
With offensive tackle arguably being the Lions\u2019 biggest need\u2014and the team picking 17th overall\u2014that means Detroit may have to settle for the fourth or fifth OT off the board, should they stick with that position.<\/p>\n
Of course, Lions general manager Brad Holmes has insisted that the Lions won\u2019t simply pick a player because he fills a position of need. So if four offensive tackles go off the board before the Lions\u2019 pick and they don\u2019t view the remaining prospects at tackle as top-level talent, they won\u2019t go that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t take a player that you\u2019re not really fired up about because he plays a certain position,\u201d Holmes said last week. \u201cAnd then the reason why you weren\u2019t fired up about him, he shows that on the field, and that\u2019s why you had reservations on him. Now you\u2019ve got the double-whammy. We haven\u2019t done that. We only take players that we\u2019re really excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler provided a little more information on the offensive tackle class. He said that Miami\u2019s Francis Mauigoa and Utah\u2019s Spencer Fano are \u201cconsensus\u201d top 15-17 picks. But Georgia\u2019s Monroe Freeling and Alabama\u2019s Kadyn Proctor have joined the duo as possible picks in the top half of the first round. Fowler offered these insider quotes on the latter two prospects:<\/p>\n
Via NFC executive: \u201c\u2018Would have said no on Freeling in November but I can see it now. He fits the mold.\u201d<\/p>\n
Via AFC executive on Proctor: \u201c\u2018He\u2019s the go-higher-than-you-think guy for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
If that\u2019s the case, the Lions would still have options at offensive tackle. Clemson\u2019s Blake Miller has been a recent popular pairing with Detroit. Local outlets MLive<\/a> and the Detroit News selected Miller for the Lions<\/a> in their latest mock drafts. Other options include Arizona State\u2019s Max Iheanachor and Utah\u2019s Caleb Lomu.<\/p>\n But if the Lions are forced to pivot, that\u2019s where things get interesting. Auburn EDGE Keldric Faulk is another popular pairing for Detroit, but they may have to go for a more untraditional position if they stay true to the board. Would they take a chance on Oregon tight end Kenyond Sadiq, if still available? Are they willing to look past injury concerns to take Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy? Or would they look to provide some clarity at safety with Emmanuel McNeil-Warren or Dillon Thieneman?<\/p>\n While offensive tackle remains the most logical pick at 17, Detroit will certainly have other options should the position be depleted early in the draft, as Fowler suggests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 NFL Draft is just two days away, and reporters are busy contacting all of their sources…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847876,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[448,5845,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-871485","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-detroit-lions-draft","9":"tag-detroit-lions-rumors","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116445227198939148","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871485","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=871485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871485\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}