1. 2012: Tahir Whitehead, LB, Temple
Another clunker class for the Lions leaves the pickings slim for a best player, but Whitehead takes the crown. Whitehead was a fifth-round pick and has turned himself into a pretty solid player, but hasn’t gotten a full chance to really show what he can do.
That should change this year, as Whitehead is projected to be the Lions full-time starter at middle linebacker. Whitehead managed just 51 tackles last year, but started only half the games.
Whitehead was a real no-brainer pick of this class because first-round pick Riley Reiff has struggled to find any type of consistency, second-round pick Ryan Broyles could never stay healthy, and third-round pick Bill Bentley never capitalized on any of his initial promise.
