Detroit Lions 3-round mock draft: Detroit fills voids across the board

If not for a torn ACL in 2021 spring practice, which led to him missing most of his final season at Georgia, Pickens might be a first-round pick in a loaded receiver class. But he did return to action late last season, and he averaged over 21 yards a catch in limited action over four games.

Further removed from his injury, Pickens should only look more comfortable and smoother. He is a well-polished receiver, with the air of confidence an alpha receiver needs to have. The knocks on him would be a slender frame (6-foot-3, 195 pounds at the combine, where he ran a 4.47 40 by the way) and a lack of physicality which that lack of bulk might point to.

Pickens may go off the board in the late-first or the second round anyway, and maybe the Lions snag him there. But he fell to the early third here, and I jumped at the chance to take him.

Georgia will send what seems like their entire national championship-winning defense to the NFL in this draft. Tindall is one of the overlooked draft entrants from that Bulldogs unit, as Lance Zierlein of NFL.com passed along from a scouting director.

“Underrated player. He deserves more accolades as a player but with so many guys in that front, he gets forgotten a little bit.” — Scouting director for NFC team

As is the case with some of his former teammates, such as it is with a loaded defense that can rotate droves of top-recruited talent at you, Tindall wasn’t a full-time starter at Georgia for much of his career. But there’s no denying his production when on the field, and he had a breakout last season (67 total tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss, 5.5 sacks).

Up to 230 pounds at the combine, Tindall still ran a 4.47 40-yard dash with a 42-inch vertical. He is a bit of tweener for those than might want to see him that way, not really an ideal edge rusher and a bit raw (though improved as last season went along) as a diagnoser in the run game. But the Lions lean into intangibles and a base for potential here, and add upside to a linebacking corps that sorely needs it.