As it stands, our Detroit Lions hold the No. 1 overall pick and the No. 25 overall pick (via Rams) in the 2022 NFL Draft.
The question is, what will the Lions decide to do with those picks?
Well, according to ESPN NFL Draft guru Todd McShay, the Lions will land Michigan EDGE Aidan Hutchinson No. 1 overall and then follow that up by selecting QB Sam Howell at No. 25.
Here is what McShay has to say about the picks.
Aidan Hutchinson, DE, Michigan
The Lions are a one-win team for a reason and have holes all over the place. The biggest concern long term, of course, falls at quarterback — Jared Goff joins four rookies at the bottom of Total QBR this season — but there isn’t one in this class worthy of the top pick. And you aren’t taking a receiver or cornerback here, also glaring issues. Detroit has another pick later on Day 1 to address one of those problems.
Instead, the Lions need to take the best player available, and right now, that’s Hutchinson. The production speaks for itself: He has 14.0 sacks, 73 tackles, 19 tackles for loss and a pair of forced fumbles, and he tends to play at his best in the biggest spots. Detroit is in the bottom five in yards allowed per play (5.9), points allowed per game (27.2) and sacks (20), and while Romeo Okwara, Julian Okwara, Trey Flowers and a host of others can be impact players, Hutchinson could be the guy on the edge for the Lions.
Sam Howell, QB, North Carolina*
Four drafts have featured five first-round quarterbacks (1983, 1999, 2018 and 2021), but all four have included at least two top-10 picks. Here we have five Day 1 signal-callers for a second consecutive year, but all of them fall between picks Nos. 12 and 25. There will always be QB-needy teams, and while this class lacks a surefire franchise guy, it does have plenty of high-upside passers who could become just that. I actually like Howell a little more than Desmond Ridder. The UNC product reads the field well and shows good touch and timing on his throws.
Jared Goff‘s dead money would fall from $30.5 million in 2022 to $10 million in 2023 and $5 million in 2024, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Detroit drafts someone like Howell at the end of the first round to secure the fifth-year option and lets him learn behind Goff for a year before handing over the keys.
