NFL Draft season is upon us and for the next few weeks we will be ranking our top five options for the Lions at each position of need. We'll also be ranking players based off of where the Lions are picking. So these will be players that they will be able to draft. We've already done cornerbacks, receivers, tight ends and edge rushers, safeties. Now it's time to do interior defensive linemen.
The Lions made their biggest splash of free agency when they signed former Bengals defensive tackle DJ Reader. The Lions aren't done in that area yet though. They still need to find some depth to help them out. Here's our top five interior defensive linemen for the Lions:
Newton was a baller for Illinois in 2023. If you want more pass rush coming from the inside, he is your guy. Newton had eight sacks and 43 pressures last season. that's second in sacks and sixth in pressures among interior linemen.
The question is will Newton be there? Some mocks have him there and some have him going just before 29. The other question is do the Lions want to use their highest pick on this position?
I'm still very impressed with what he did at the Senior Bowl and Sweat had a very good season at Texas last year. So good that he was Pro Football Focus' highest graded interior defensive lineman in 2023.
There's two big questions. The first is his weight. Can he maintain it or will it become a problem? The second is that will his recent DWI be a problem for the Lions? There's a chance it might be a problem for a lot of teams.
This guy is just right down the street at Michigan. Jenkins is a run stuffer that can help the Lions continue to do the thing they were maybe better at than any team last year and that's, well, stopping the run.
The question is do the Lions feel they have enough of that already in Reader, McNeil and Martin? If they do, they may be more apt to look at a pass rushing interior lineman.
I don't think we're talking enough about this guy. Harris is someone that the Lions could get in the fifth or sixth round, but there's a lot to like about his fit with Detroit. He can bring that pass rush we're talking about. Harris had seven sacks for Auburn last year. That was seventh in the country. He also happens to be a pretty good run stopper too. PFF gave him an 87.4 grade there.
Speaking of pass rushing, my fifth and final guy on this list led all interior defensive linemen in sacks in 2023 with nine. Culpepper is a good fit with the Lions in the sense that he is a pass rush specialist and that's what this team needs off the bench on the interior. He can come in on the Nascar packages along with James Houston and Aidan Hutchinson and they can all get after it. The problem is that he struggles in all other areas.
There's some interest there. The Lions did invite him to their local pro day.
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