Recently, ESPN's Ben Solak wrote about what he sees as the best case scenario for the Detroit Lions in this year's draft. The largest point of emphasis for Solak was the Lions being able to essentially revamp their entire offensive line through this draft, which is chock-full of starting caliber tackles and some worth depth pieces at guard.
"If the Lions walk out of April with a refurbished offensive line, it's an A+ draft," wrote Solak. Taking a tackle to replace Taylor Decker, or Penei Sewell, is what Solak sees as the best option for Detroit in the first round of this draft. He added:
"Then the Lions still need to use another pick on the interior offensive line. Christian Mahogany is not a guaranteed starter at left guard and has missed time in both of his pro seasons.Cade Mays was a solid bargain signing in free agency but was a backup for most of his career in Carolina; the Panthers released him in 2024. Neither has a stranglehold on his position, and the Lions should hedge their bets with a middle-rounds pick accordingly."
We took this proposal to heart in our latest, and second-to-last, 2026 Lions mock draft. In this 4-round process, the Lions land both a starting tackle and a guard to add competition to that room.
Lions 4-round mock draft reimagines entire offensive line
We agreed to this trade, proposed by NFL Mock Draft Database's system, to get Detroit back into the 2nd round while not allowing them to fall too far down the order in the 2nd round. This ended up working swimmingly, as the Lions snagged an iron-man tackle at 35th overall in this mock draft.
At 35th overall, the Lions select tackle Blake Miller out of Clemson. Miller has been heralded as one of the strongest tackles in this year's class, and his wealth of experience starting for Clemson feels like a huge plus for his appeal to the Lions. Miller finished up his last year at Clemson with an overall PFF grade of 76.8, with some room for improvement left for his run-blocking.
FanSided just released a big board ahead of the draft, and writer Mike Luciano's assessment of Miller might leave fans just a bit wary of this pick:
"Miller has started 54 games in his college career at multiple o-line spots, and when that experience is paired with sublime technique and athletic ability that is sure to turn heads across the league, Miller should be able to work his into a Top 50 pick despite his choopy footwork and lack of amazing power when trying to open up holes in the run game."
Still, Miller is considered a better prospect than Kadyn Proctor in Luciano's eyes.
At 50th overall, Dani Dennis-Sutton gets his number called by the Lions. The former Nittany Lion might not pack a punch in the pass rush, but he's already a pretty decent run defender. If the Lions go wtih a pass rusher this far into the draft, then this is the kind of evaluation you will see, on average, of their edge rusher pick.
Expect a player like Dennis-Sutton no matter what if they're picking an edge at 50th overall - someone good, not great, and a decent backup with room to grow. He had 25 hurries and 45 pressures in his last year with Penn State, per PFF, and 8.5 sacks.
The Lions could use some reinforcements at cornerback, and to address that, they snag Keionte Scott with their 3rd round pick acquired from the Titans.
The former Miami Hurricanes defender flew off the radar amidst an extremely talented Miami defense in 2025. Scott, who finished up his last year with two interceptions, two forced fumbles, and five passes defended, falls to 50th overall on FanSided's big board:
"Scott is another older prospect from the Miami defense that didn't break out until his final season in college, but his blazing 40-yard dash times paired with the tackling ability of a linebacker will make him some tremendous value early on Day 2. Scott will be best served in a nickel role, and that limited versatility in the pros might work against him in a deep cornerback class."
A strong tackler is something the Lions have to be clamoring for, especially after seeing some abysmal performances from their secondary and linebacker room on that front towards the end of the 2025 season. Detroit could probably go for someone a bit stronger in this cornerback class at 50th overall, but they'd be left with an even weaker option at edge rusher.
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Adding some depth behind Jahmyr Gibbs and Isiah Pacheco - especially if Pacheco has a weak start to his Lions tenure - is what made us go for Coleman with this 4th round pick. Coleman finished up his career in Washington with 758 rushing yards and 15 rushing touchdowns, all while acting as team captain.
The leadership is what makes him intriguing as an option for Detroit in the 4th round, but this is also pretty decent value for Detroit if they can get decent work out of Coleman on special teams in addition to having him act in David Montgomery's role from last season (again, contigent on Pacheco's production).
Solak gets his wish here, with the Lions going for Jalen Farmer with their final 4th round pick. Farmer played left guard in high school, switching over to right guard with the Kentucky Wildcats. He has room to grow as a pass protector, but he's already a bit of a people mover as a run blocker.
Detroit probably would love nothing more than to get their run game back to the elite status it sat in back in 2024, and taking an additional guard to compete for a starting role on the line would be great to that end.
Of course, it all depends on whether the Lions think he can swap back to left guard, with right guard being fairly spoken for by Tate Ratledge. An interior offensive line of Ratledge-Mays-Farmer isn't too shabby after what we witnessed up the middle in 2025.
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