The buzz around it is growing, but could the Lions really end up drafting safety Kyle Hamilton second overall in April?
With no quarterback worthy of that high a selection, a lot of options are on the table for the Detroit Lions with the second overall pick in April’s draft. Take an edge rusher? A trade down? Take someone at another position? With needs across the roster, nothing is really out of the question.
Recent mock draft buzz has attached the Lions to Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton. There’s no denying the team’s need at the position as free agency looms, and the defense as a whole could use playmakers wherever it can get them.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, as he tabbed draft prospect fits for teams, matched the Lions and Hamilton.
"There’s a real debate going on around the league about just how high you take safeties,” he said. “I don’t necessarily agree with the conventional wisdom on that, of how high you take a safety. I think this kid’s pretty unique. He’s so tall and long and rangy. The ability to make plays from the deep middle as well as the ability to drop down low and be a physical player, he can erase tight ends. …I would have no issues whatsoever with them taking Kyle Hamilton and saying this is a plug and play guy who’s going to give them something they desperately need, and that’s somebody who can make a play.”"
Should the Lions really take Kyle Hamilton at No. 2 overall?
The root of Jeremiah’s premise for the Lions to take Hamilton second overall is if Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson (his top overall player in this year’s draft) goes No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars. But safeties are rarely drafted high.
The highest-drafted safety in the last five drafts is Jamal Adams, who went sixth overall to the New York Jets in 2017. The last safety to be taken in the top-five overall was Eric Berry, fifth overall to the Kansas City Chiefs in 2010. The last safety to be taken second overall was Eric Turner, to the Cleveland Browns in 1991. Between Turner and Berry, only one other safety (Sean Taylor, fifth overall to Washington in 2004) was drafted in the top five.
The last Lions’ regime went against the grain, drafting a tight end and a cornerback with top-10 overall picks. It takes a uniquely talented safety to be worthy of a top-five pick, and even being in that conversation points to how good Hamilton was in college.
But there will be talented safeties on the board a little bit later. The Lions are still better off waiting to draft a safety, even if taking Hamilton second overall is a tempting idea.