Two players the Detroit Lions need to consider after the NFL Combine

Brian Burns, edge

Brian Burns, edge rusher, Florida St., 6-5, 249, 4.53 

Burns is a prospect that helped himself a lot at the combine. He weighed in at 249 pounds, but ran a blistering 4.53-second forty-yard dash, with a 1.57-second 10-yard split. For context, only ten running backs beat his time, the heaviest of which is 220 pounds (Ryquell Armstead, Temple).

Burns was a five-star athlete coming out of high school from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, according to 247 Sports. He has continued to display excellent athleticism while adding mass to his frame, he was 215 in high school. The former Seminole end logged ten sacks with 15.5 tackles for loss (TFL’s) this past campaign, giving him 24.0 sacks and 39.5 TFL’s for his three-year career according to Seminoles.com, the Florida State University website.

If you want to see some athletic moves, check out some Youtube highlights of Burns, here. His burst off of the edge is sudden and he doesn’t seem to lose speed when he makes a move. Burns’ body control and ability to use multiple types of moves makes him a difficult matchup for almost any player.

He has the length, size, and quickness to excel in Detroit. Lions brass has to have him on their radar as a candidate to consider at pick number eight. This is what the combine does, it helps quantify skills that you can often see on film; if there was conflicting information, you’d have to look at why.

Burns is ranked as a late-first, early-second round pick by NFL Draft Scout, currently. Josh Allen, from Kentucky, was an early fan favorite to be selected and Burns bested Allen’s times and measures across the board. Allen and Burns are similar types of players in terms of position, size, speed, and pass rush ability which the Detroit Lions sorely need.

Burns measurable skills, a 36-inch vertical jump, a ten foot, nine-inch broad jump, and a three-cone time of 7.01 seconds, has proven that his college production numbers were earned and not a product of a system. His combine numbers are comparable to last year’s number sixteen pick, Tremaine Edmunds, whose size and speed are very close to Burns’, numbers from NFL Draft Scout.