Earlier this morning, the Detroit Lions made it official that they have signed former Baltimore Ravens S DeShon Elliott to a 1-year contract.
As it stands, you can pretty much pencil in Elliott as one of the Lions’ starting safeties, alongside Tracy Walker, who recently signed a contract extension.
In case you are not sure what Elliott will bring to the table, let’s take a quick look at the damage he is capable of doing.
Watch as Elliott absolutely destroys RB Derrick Henry, who is arguably the most physical running back on planet earth.
This is probably one of the best highlights you'll find of DeShon Elliott, reportedly the newest member of the Detroit Lions. He straight up levels Derrick Henry and takes him out. pic.twitter.com/qqtfOcU5xt
— Kory E. Woods (@KoryEWoods) April 13, 2022
NFL Draft Betting: How Early Will the Top Edge Rushers Be Drafted?
There’s a fairly well-accepted adage that “the most valuable football positions are quarterback and anyone who can get to the quarterback.” We all know that the passing game — both on offense and defense — has become the premier phase of NFL play, so it makes sense that prospects who affect it should demand attention in the NFL Draft. Especially in an NFL prospect cycle with no clear-cut, superstar-to-be quarterbacks, the edge-rushing talent is the show in town for 2022 draftniks.
Edge rusher is also a position you should be paying attention to if you want to bet the NFL Draft this year. FanDuel Sportsbook has player draft position props available for a number of NFL prospects: they give an overall draft slot number and you can bet on whether that prospect will be selected “over” (later in the draft) or “under” (earlier) that pick.
All four edge rushers with draft slot props have lines suggesting they’ll be top-10 selections. Will the top picks be dominated by defensive ends, or will any of these elite edge players slip down the board in the 2022 NFL Draft?
Methodology
I use a combination of data sources, including mock drafts and my own draft pick model to help project players into draft slots. The mock draft data I use sources the “pulse of the people” via Grinding the Mocks and their Expected Draft Position (EDP), as well as an “expert consensus mock” of the nine most accurate mockers over the last five years, per The Huddle Report.