The Detroit Lions didn’t make the playoffs last year, but they were playing games that mattered in the last few weeks of the season and it’s not often that we see that. The Lions went 9-8 and are a popular dark-horse contender as we approach the 2023 season.
Detroit made some key additions in free agency, but they aren’t done building their team yet. With two first-round picks in next week’s NFL Draft, they have a chance to bolster their roster in a huge way.
The Lions are picking No. 6 overall, a pick they got from the Los Angeles Rams in the Matthew Stafford trade. Could they use it to get their next franchise quarterback, or just as a way to load up with defensive talent or weapons for Jared Goff.
Let’s get into three players that the Lions could take at No. 6 that could boost their odds of winning Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas next February.
Lions Super Bowl odds
Detroit Lions 2023 Draft Targets
- Anthony Richardson
- Jalen Carter
- Devon Witherspoon
Anthony Richardson – QB Florida
Richardson is a generational athlete at the quarterback position. He’s a Cam Newton level athlete, who didn’t have Cam Newton level success at the collegiate level. Richardson is 6-foot-4 244 lbs, ran a 4.43 40-yard dash at the combine, and broke basically every quarterback record with his vertical and broad jump.
He has absurd arm strength and the best running ability at the position in this class and it’s not close. He’s just a little bit raw as a passer with only 13 college starts.
Richardson has the highest ceiling of any quarterback in this class and a team like Detroit with an upward trajectory does not have the opportunity to pick in the top 10 very often. The Stafford trade was a win-win and now they have a chance to pluck an insane quarterback talent using the pick they got for dealing Stafford and setting themselves up for years.
Jared Goff is a good quarterback but there’s a ceiling there and we know it. Take Richardson, let him sit behind Goff and then unleash him next season.
It might not necessarily change their Super Bowl odds this season, but with this roster if the Lions leave the draft with Richardson they’d be one of the NFC favorites for the next 5-10 years.
Jalen Carter – DL Georgia
Jalen Carter might be the best player in this draft. There are certainly character concerns that have come up since the end of the college football season and that is the only reason that he could be available to the Lions at No. 6.
That’s an opportunity that they should not pass up.
Carter is a dominant disruptor on the inside and could easily post multiple double-digit sack seasons in his career while rushing from the inside. That’s a rare skill set and the Lions shouldn’t let it pass them by.
There is a chance that Dan Campbell and Carter mix like water and oil, but there’s also the chance that the hard-nosed motivator can bring the best out of the ultra talented Carter who’s in need of some maturation.
For a player of Carter’s caliber that’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Devon Witherspoon – CB Illinois
The Lions went out of their way in free agency to address the corner position by adding Emmanuel Moseley and Cam Sutton. I absolutely love those pickups and I view Sutton as the single most underrated corner in the NFL.
He’s that good.
However, I think he’s at his best on the inside and getting a corner line Witherspoon would allow Sutton to slide inside in nickel and dime packages. However, Witherspoon fits nicely inside as well.
Witherspoon is an undersized corner, but do not tell him that. He’s 5-foot-11 181 lbs, but he hits like a strong safety.
For a guy 5-11 & 181 lbs, Illinois CB Devon Witherspoon hits like a Monday morning alarm clock pic.twitter.com/bD1RluzSbQ
— Kyle Lindemann (@LuckIsMadeFF) April 17, 2023
Dan Campbell will absolutely love Witherspoon because he’s been biting knee caps for years. He’s also a stellar cover corner that can lock down a No. 1 receiver in man-to-man coverage. Adding him to this secondary will give them some much versatility and ferocity. This pick at No. 6 would atone for the Jeff Okudah mistake of 2020.
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