Mel Kiper’s quarterback pick for the Detroit Lions is at least intriguing

The Detroit Lions may or may not come out of April’s draft with a quarterback, but Mel Kiper Jr.’s pick for them is at least interesting.

For the Detroit Lions and their fans, the business of offseason player decisions has started. General manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell will lead the pre-draft and free agency processes, and try to find fits to fill needs.

After free agency, the draft will come in April. What the Lions do in free agency will impact how they approach the draft. Needs could become greater based on free agent departures, and their will certainly be gaps to fill

It’s now mock draft season, Mel Kiper Jr., aka “Godfather Mock”, came out with his first for 2022 this past week.

Kiper has the Lions using their second first-round pick on a quarterback. There’s easy skepticism for that, considering how well Jared Goff finished the season and the vote of confidence he has been given from Holmes and Campbell. The 2022 quarterback class is also not well-regarded, as evidenced by Kiper having no signal callers in the first 10 picks.

Mel Kiper’s quarterback pick for the Lions is intriguing, if nothing else

Kiper has the Lions using that second first-rounder on North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell.

"“Howell is a tricky evaluation, and he could definitely drop to Round 2,” Kiper writes. “He looked like a potential top-10 pick after his sophomore season in 2020. At the beginning of the 2021 season, though, he really struggled, and he put a lot of bad tape out there while throwing to a completely new set of pass-catchers. He settled back in and improved down the stretch, finishing with 24 touchdown passes and nine picks, plus 11 rushing scores. He throws a beautiful deep ball and has tremendous touch on passes.”"

Going into the 2021 campaign, Howell and Spencer Rattler were expected to battle it out for who would be the first quarterback drafted in 2022. Instead, Rattler played poorly and lost his job while Howell struggled to adjust to a new supporting cast.

Howell had to carry the Tar Heels, and the early results weren’t good. But he got better as the season went along, and added an element as a runner.

The question is if Howell can become the face of an NFL franchise. Even more to the point, would he be a good fit in the Lions’ offense?

No one truly knows how a player will fit into a system in the NFL, whether it be coming from college or being a veteran signed as a free agent. But Howell is a mobile dual-threat quarterback, seemingly with an intriguing mix of tools and intangibles.

Howell is not the ideal height. In some places he’s been called something along the lines of “Baker Mayfield on steroids”, as a hint to being similar size but having better tools and more upside than the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback.

Goff seems to be firmly entrenched as the Lions’ quarterback for at least next season. But if Holmes ends up with a preference for Howell as the quarterback of the future, and he’s available, the idea of adding him is at least interesting three months away from the draft.