Nearly everyone has the Detroit Lions going with either an offensive tackle or edge rusher with the No. 17 pick in next Thursday’s NFL draft. Those two positions have been penciled in as the Lions’ most glaring holes for some time now, and there’s a handful of prospects viewed as first-round caliber at each one expected to be available when Detroit is on the lock.
But when it comes to Brad Holmes, it’s best to expect the unexpected. His track record and recent words both show that he’s not gonna go chasing a player just to fill a “need”.
“You can’t take a player that you’re not really fired up about because he plays a certain position,” he said at his pre-draft press conference Monday. “And then the reason why you weren’t fired up about him, he shows that on the field, and that’s why you had reservations on him. Now you’ve got the double whammy. We haven’t done that. We only take players that we’re really excited about.”
Well, are there any positions that might have a player the Lions are really excited about?
It’s tough to say, but there are a few positions where it would be downright stunning to see the Lions address on round 1– namely quarterback, running back, wide receiver, tight end and mike linebacker. But aside from those, it becomes a lot easier to picture the Lions going in another direction when you think about their dedication to the “best player available” philosophy.
One of the most interesting possibilities is the Lions drafting a safety in the first round.
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It may seem silly at first. The Lions have one of the league’s best safety tandems in Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch, no? Both have been tremendous players and Detroit just gave Joseph a mammoth 4-year, $86 million extension last summer. Besides, safety isn’t seen as a “premium position” anyways.
But a knee injury cost Joseph the final 11 games of the 2026 season. There’s been concern that the injury will never truly go away and could dog Joseph for the rest of his career, and the Lions themselves don’t seem too optimistic about it.
And then there’s Branch, without a contract extension and coming off a devastating torn achilles suffered against the Dallas Cowboys in December. There’s a chance he may never be the same, with achilles injuries notorious for sapping the very burst and quickness that helped make Branch such a special player for the Lions.
So if the Lions truly feel like both halves of their once cream-of-the-crop safety tandem may be damaged goods, maybe it’s indeed best to add some major insurance.
Top safety Caleb Downs will almost certainly be off the board at No. 17, and if he even begins to slip out of the top 10 maybe the Lions should start working the phones. But let’s assume he’s out of the picture.
That would put Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman as the likely next option. He’s rated as ESPN’s No. 20 overall player, The Athletic’s No. 18 player and FanSided’s No. 18 player.
Thieneman is a versatile, athletic player who played several roles within Oregon’s defense including nickel, box and conventional deep safety. He’s shown good coverage skills and finds the ball against the run. Thienemen could slot right in as Detroit’s starting nickel or hold down one of the safety spots if Branch and Joseph miss considerable time.
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Thienemen’s versatility and smarts despite exceptional size has drawn comparisons to Justin Reid and Cooper DeJean.
The other first-round prospect at safety is Toledo’s Emmanuel McNeil-Warren. McNeil-Warren is a lengthy, rangy athlete at 6-foot-3, 203 pounds who glides across the field. His tackling technique and run defense can be questionable, but he has a knack for the old “peanut punch”, with nine forced fumbles in his college career.
McNeil Warren is a bit unrefined in pass coverage but has flashed some promising, if inconsistent instincts there. He has all the tools to be an impactful modern NFL safety and has been compared to Talanoa Hufanga and Jessie Bates III . He is ranked as ESPN’s No. 21 overall player, The Athletic’s No. 23 player and FanSided’s No. 30 player.
This whole question likely depends on how dire the Lions view Branch and Joseph’s injury situations. But both prospects talked about above are versatile athletes who could play a number of roles.
We’ve just seen what the Seattle Seahawks were able to do with Nick Emmanwori deployed as a do-it-all big nickel, and that could be the kind of piece the Lions look to add to their defense. It wouldn’t be the most surprising thing to see them end up with one of these two players after day one.
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