The Lions Should Draft This Guy: Vega Ioane is the prime example of a player who could throw the Lions’ assumed draft plans off course in a good way
The Lions would go pretty far off of what the need is here, but this fits their style of drafting the best player availible
We’re getting closer and closer to the 2026 NFL Draft for the Detroit Lions. With that in mind, we’re starting our new series called The Lions Should Draft This Guy. We’re going to profile a bunch of players we feel the Lions would love, and talk about their positives and negatives. Follow along! Here’s who we’ve covered so far:
The positives of Vega Ioane
Ioane is one of the most can’t-miss guard prospects the draft has seen in a very long time. He hasn’t allowed a sack in two years. His 87 pass block grade from Pro Football Focus was the eighth best in the country among guards who played a minimum of 300 snaps. The four pressures he allowed were the third least by all guards.
He’s a near elite run blocker; his 78.6 run block grade was the 11th best among guards who played a minimum of 300 snaps.
He’s projected to be a plug-and-play guy. He will start day one for the Lions, and they’ll never have to look back. The Lions would then have to make Christian Mahogany their backup.
The concerns
A little better of a run blocking grade might be nice, considering the Lions have been dramatically a run-first team and will continue to do so. That’s been the concern about Ioane, even though he’s shown that it’s not a huge concern since he’s not bad at it.
The Lions would also draft pretty far off need, and fans would probably be upset since so many of them have locked onto the idea that the team is taking a tackle or edge. This move would be wildly off that path.
In addition to that, the Lions have to then figure out their situation at guard. We mentioned Mahoagny in the first section, but it goes beyond that. What do they do with Miles Frazier? Do they try him at tackle? What about Juice Scruggs, Ben Bartch, and Michael Niese? The Lions would have so many guards off this, but they’d arguably improve their offensive line in a much bigger way.
We know the Lions don’t draft for need, but this move does push off tackle and edge to the 50th pick, and while there are still really solid players available there, they’re not the top guys.
Detroit Lions News
