It's that time of the week again. Time for another Detroit Lions mock draft. Last week we experimented with trading up and found that we had to get rid of a lot to do it. This week we're trading again. This time we're trading out of the first round becasue the Patriots offered a deal that was too good to pass up on. Here's what the Lions walked away with in this draft:

Trade

I mentioned a good trade and here it is. 

Lions get: The 34th pick and the 103rd pick

Patriots get: The 29th pick

The Patriots move back into the first round and the Lions get back the second pick in the second round and a fourth-round pick. I liked the idea of not having that huge gap between 73 and 164 anymore. 

34th pick: Troy Franklin, WR, Oregon

Franklin is someone that I have really started to gravitate to lately. LSU’s Brian Thomas is the dream, but he’s begun to rise up the ranks and is now slated to go in the top 15. Franklin is my number three receiver in my top five rankings. 

The big thing that I like about Franklin is that when I watched the film, the guy was constantly open. He was open to the point that I wondered if anyone was actually covering him. He can also burn down the field and he can make the contested catch. Everything the Lions are looking for. 

61st pick: Marshawn Kneeland, ED, Western Michigan

Kneeland has been mocked here by me on several occasions and one of the reasons I keep doing it is because the Lions are sort of in no mans land when it comes to edge rushers. The draft is top heavy with them and most of the good ones are gone before the Lions pick. Then they get in a position where it’s kind of early to take some guys and then they just wind up missing on some. 

Kneeland is always there though and he's always the best pass rusher left in the draft too. I think this guy would go late in the first in other years. That's how good I think Kneeland is. 

73rd pick: Kamren Kinchens, S, Miami

The Lions need some safety help for their rotation now that Tracy Walker and C.J. Gardner-Johnson are gone. The Lions only have three safeties signed right now and one of them (Brandon Joseph) is on a futures deals. 

Kinchens was at one point the highest ranked safety in the draft, but he had a down season in 2023. Still, he is someone that is projected to be a starting safety in the NFL at some point. That's the perfect guy you want to be in the Lions safety rotation. 

104th pick: Cam Hart, CB, Notre Dame

I have been so high on Cam Hart since the Senior Bowl. The Lions score him in the fourth here, but I would not be shocked if he went on day two. I think he’s that good. 

He's a big culture guy for the Lions as well. A former captain at Notre Dame that doesn't mind being violent on the field. He does all that with finesse as well. Whoever lands this guy is getting a future CB1 in my opinion. 

164th pick: Nehemiah Pritchett, CB, Auburn

Going back to back with cornerbacks and getting two guys from my top five cornerbacks list. Prichett has been mocked to the Lions in a couple of my previous mocks. The Lions have shown some interest in him since the last time and he will have a top-30 visit with the Lions. 

It's the versatility that's interesting. Not only can he be good in coverage, he can also be a good special teams player. He could even play a little offense in a Jamal Agnew type role. Auburn did use him that way on occasion.

201st pick: Dylan McMahon, C, North Carolina State

It’s become a weekly thing at this point. I swear it’s not a bit. I keep waiting on drafting an offensive lineman because I think the Lions feel good about what they have in Colby Sorsdal and Kayode Awosika and Kevin Zeitler has given Detroit the time to see where things can go with them. 

But I don't want to walk out without one and McMahon is always there and I always want to draft him. The ability to play any position along the interior is just too good to pass up. 

205th pick: Qwan’Tez Stiggers, CB, Toronto Argonauts

Yeah, I’m going with three cornerbacks. Why not make a little history at the end of the draft by being the first NFL team to draft a player that didn’t play college football? 

Stiggers has an incredible story that took him from dropping out of college due to  family tragedy to playing arena football and then heading to the CFL and winning rookie of the year there. The Lions showed some interest. They had him in for a top-30 visit recently. Imagine a world where the Lions have two of the CFL's best players on their roster. 

249th pick: Joshua Karty, K, Stanford

The Lions recently attended a pro day that only had one player working out and that player was a kicker. That was Stanford’s Joshua Karty. That tells you how the Lions feel about kickers. They more than likely want one. 

UDFA’s

I want to try something a little different with this mock draft this week. Let’s pick some undrafted free agents that the Lions could sign. Here’s a handful of guys to watch out for: 

• Carter Bradley, QB, South Alabama: Honestly, he might have been the best quarterback at the Senior Bowl. I don't think anyone performed better than he did. 
• Andre' Sam, S, LSU: Maybe my favorite story of the draft
• Kitan Oladapo, S, Oregon State: Another guy that was impressive at the Senior Bowl. He had an informal meeting with the Lions at the NFL Combine
• Morice Norris, CB, Fresno State: The Lions attended his pro day and then took him out to dinner afterwards. There's some interest there. 
• Edefaun Ulofoshio, LB, Washington: I had a live mock draft with Kent Lee Platte of Pro Football Network this week and he raved about the guy and we both picked him late in the draft. 
• Karsen Barnhardt, T, Michigan: A guy that the Lions will see at the local Michigan pro day soon. Could be a Matt Nelson replacement. 
• Aaron Casey, LB, Indiana: The Lions had a formal meeting with him at the combine.
• Jared Wiley, TE, TCU: A favorite of mine from the Senior Bowl. Wiley was a hard nose tight end that was moving guys around out in Alabama. Would love to see what he could do at camp. 

9 former Detroit Lions are set to make their debuts in the UFL this weekend, including a former 2nd round pick

A brand new football league starts this weekend when the United Football League kicks off on Saturday. The UFL is the combination of two former leagues. The XFL and the USFL. The two leagues merged back January.  There's a solid handful of former Lions that will be making their debuts in this league this weekend. […]