What a difference a day makes. On Wednesday the Detroit Lions were on the sidelines watching Senior Bowl practices the same way a lot of other teams were. Suddenly on Thursday they're now on the field with all of the prospects from the American team at the Senior Bowl because the Lions have hired the American team's head coach Terrell Williams to be their new defensive line coach and run game coordinator.
Williams has spent the week with a lot of players the Lions should have ton of interest in on the defensive line. The big one being Texas interior defensive lineman T'Vondre Sweat. The guy we wrote about being a perfect fit with the Lions and the guy that blew up Twitter with this on Wednesday.
Sweat is the top dog on this roster, but the American team also has Alabama's Chris Braswell, Florida State's Braden Fiske, Auburn's Marcus Harris and Texas A&M's McKinnley Jackson. With Williams, the Lions now have someone on the inside to be a first on-field evaluator to work with these guys. That's a major plus.
There's a lot of talent that isn't at the Senior Bowl and because of that, a lot more evaluations need to be done and when April rolls around, you might find that teams are taking a couple guys each that played in the Senior Bowl. The teams that coach in those games usually wind up with someone. The Lions coached the Senior Bowl in 2022 and they fell in love with Josh Paschal.
Matt Patricia and the Lions coached the Senior Bowl in 2020 and wound up with Jonah Jackson. Jim Schwartz coached in 2013 and a fell so hard for Ezekiel Ansah, that the Lions made him the fifth pick in the draft. The point is there. The Lions have a guy on the field and they'll fall in love with someone in Mobile.
Some other players that Williams is overseeing that the Lions could have interest in come draft time are Miami safety Karmen Kinchens, Missouri cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine, Auburn cornerback D.J. James, UConn guard Christian Haynes, TCU tight end Jared Wiley and Florida State receiver Johnny Wilson.
We'll see come April if any guy from the American team winds up getting drafted by the Lions and if Terrell Williams helped the Lions out with that.
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