5 biggest losers for the Detroit Lions after the 2023 NFL Draft

4. S/CB Ifeatu Melifonwu

Melifonwu will always be known as the first draft pick the Lions had from the Matthew Stafford  trade, third round (No. 101 overall) in the 2021 draft.  After a rookie season where he missed a lot of time due to an injury (seven games played, four starts), he transitioned to safety last offseason as the Lions surveyed options to help out there.

Melifonwu had trouble finding a place, with injuries in play as a factor, when the Lions secondary was not as loaded with talent as it is now. Free agent additions pushed him to the brink of being in danger of being cut, and the drafting of Brian Branch may have sealed that fate.

Quite simply, the Lions don’t have to wait for Melifonwu to show his full potential from a position of “lack of other options.” Tracy Walker’s ongoing recovery from a torn Achilles’ is important to note, but the third-year man is nearing the point where he’ll be looking for employment elsewhere.

3. OT Matt Nelson/OG Logan Stenberg

Offering two options here, so pick your poison.

The Lions took offensive tackle Colby Sorsdal in the fifth-round of the draft out of William & Mary. He should in the competition for a backup role, as a college tackle with plenty of experience (46 starts), and he may move to guard to stick in the NFL. When he was drafted, he was announced as a guard.

Nelson has been the Lions’ extra offensive tackle the last couple years, and he was pressed into starting duty when Taylor Decker missed the early part of the 2021 season. Stenberg barely played in his first two seasons, and when he got a chance to start last season he was not good.

Nelson’s experience may virtually lock him into a role/53-man roster spot, but it’s not as if he’s irreplaceable. Stenberg is fast becoming a non-entity for the Lions. So they both lose with Sorsdal coming in to compete.