Day 3 of the 2022 NFL Draft and the Detroit Lions

The Lions started out day 3 with three draft picks. Eventually they would trade from 181 to 188 and gain pick 237 in the seventh round for a total of four draft picks. I haven't had time yet to do much research on any of the day 3 picks, none of them who were I had thought the Lions would draft, so I am unprepared to go into detail on any of them without researching first. In the end they drafted pretty much every position I figured they would with one exception, no backup offensive tackle and/or backup offensive guard. I guess they had to save something for 2023 on the line of scrimmage.

In round 5, at pick number 177, the Lions selected TE James Mitchell from Virginia Tech. He has no RAS score as his injury prevented him from completing all the drills necessary to produce a score. He'll start out as a backup, learning the craft and working the gym while on an NFL diet to build body mass. His versatility and coachability will allow the Lions to mold him into a great player for the team. If you want to read why I am saying that, read this: https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/james-mitchell/0D6sbufrAw Once you read that you can easily see the appeal to the Lions in acquiring his various talents. Remember though, he's a round 5 pick on day 3, he was not drafted to be a ready-to-play-on-the-first-day kind of player. I had him ranked at 220, a full round later then when he was taken. I can live with that, teams (all teams) were taking players from all over the place ranking-wise.

As I said earlier, at 181 the Lions opted to trade down 7 picks to 188 and gain a mid-7th round pick. At 188 in the 6th round they selected with one of their two picks in this round; LB Malcolm Rodriguez from Oklahoma State. Malcolm has an elite RAS score of 9.28 and I had him ranked at 173. He will play middle linebacker but also be able to handle coverage tasks, a skill many LBs tend to lack. For a 6th round pick it appears at first glance that there isn't much work to do for the coaches, but I think the fitness guys need to get to him first, then the position coaches. For the complete details read: https://thedraftnetwork.com/player/malcolm-rodriguez. In the end, I'm looking forward to watching his development on defense in the middle of the field.

The other pick in round 6 was at pick 217, where the Lions selected DE James Houston IV. I looked up his RAS score, and they have him listed as a LB. His RAS score is 7.92 but I did not have him included on my original board, so I am adding him. Some have him graded as a 7th rounder or undrafted free agent. I believe the Lions took him due to the interest in him from Dallas. My normal sources have no info on him, so I went to the opposition. This will give you all the details you need to see what the Lions have to start working with: https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/lists/james-houston-2022-draft-profile/. He's raw, but he's an end of the 6th round draft pick, so that matches up fine. If he can match up with offensive opponents eventually he'll prove to be a good pick as well.

With the acquired pick in the 7th round, the Lions drafted CB Chase Lucas of Arizona State. My board listed him as a nickle cornerback with an RAS score of an elite 8.89. I also had him ranked at 218 on my board, ahead of both TE Mitchell the 5th round pick and James Houston, the second 6th round pick. The Lions drafted him 237th overall, I would imagine they were surprised to still find him available. My source shows him to be rated as a 4th round pick, a bit more than I had him, due to his speed, but I'm not sure if his instincts won't completely negate that shortcoming. Read up on him here: https://thedraftnetwork.com/sr-prospect/chase-lucas-9c4b09df-21b8-4138-b2a9-3db995fbfc7a/. This player may turn out to be my favorite of all the players selected on day 3 by the Lions.

There are the specifics of each pick, my next blog post will be more of a general overview of the entire 2022 draft, and perhaps the state of the roster with these additions, I'm just waiting now for the list of undrafted rookies the Lions sign... my board has quite a number of options there that the Lions might be interested in, but they have room for only a few (unless they make cuts or trades). The next few days should prove as interesting as the past few days.