Lions — 2026 Draft Recap

Welcome back to Muffed. The Lions came into the 2026 draft without a third-round pick, made seven selections, and walked out with a class Brad Holmes basically described as a mood. Gritty football players. Run-stoppers. Guys he kept scribbling 'football player' next to in his notes. The headliner is Clemson tackle Blake Miller at 17, but five of seven picks came on defense, and the through-line is unmistakable: Detroit wanted to get harder to run on, harder to push around, a little meaner across the board. Holmes called it meat-and-potatoes. That's exactly what it is.

Start up front, because that's where the first-round capital went. Detroit allowed 39 sacks and 119 quarterback hits in 2025 — seven hits on the passer every single game — and Blake Miller is the answer. Quick definition: Relative Athletic Score is a zero-to-ten grade comparing a prospect's combine and pro day testing to every player at his position going back to 1987. Miller's 9.91 puts him in the top one percent of offensive tackles ever measured. Smashed-the-combine territory. Detroit didn't just want depth on the edge of the line — they wanted a tested athletic profile to build around, and Miller is the rare tackle who tested elite at every measurement that matters.

The pass rush got the biggest defensive investment at pick 44: Michigan edge Derrick Moore. His 9.5 sacks ranked 4th in the Big Ten and 15th nationally, with 10 tackles for loss and 29 total — premium pass-rush production against premium competition. Holmes said his staff had been watching Moore a long time, and when edges started flying off the board, they moved up to grab him. The other pass-defense swing came in the fifth at 157 — Arizona State corner Keith Abney the Second. His calling card is ball production: 12 pass breakups last year, 2nd in his conference, 8th nationally. The 6.63 Relative Athletic Score is average, but Holmes was emphatic the tape is the story. Sticky. Instinctive. A trigger-and-tackle corner Holmes said might tilt to the nickel at the NFL level, even though he played outside in college. They had him ranked a couple of rounds higher than where he fell.

Run defense got the heaviest volume — three picks, all aimed at making teams one-dimensional. The headliner is Michigan linebacker Jimmy Rolder in the fourth at 118. Rolder posted 73 tackles, 7 for loss, 2 sacks, and his 9.53 Relative Athletic Score lands in the top five percent of linebackers ever tested. Holmes was effusive: highly instinctive, doesn't miss tackles, stronger than you'd think, sets edges on request. His phrase — 'plays with his hair on fire.' Day three added two interior pressure bets, not run-down anchors. Sixth-rounder Skyler Gill-Howard out of Texas Tech tested at a below-average 5.61, but Holmes raved about the motor and quickness as a sub-package rusher. Then at 222, Tennessee's Tyre West — 7.5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks in a rotational role on a stacked Volunteers front, with a much cleaner 7.42 Relative Athletic Score. West was a pre-draft visit guy.

The passing offense got one swing: Kentucky receiver Kendrick Law at pick 168. The number that jumps off the page is his predicted points added — the college version of NFL expected points added — at plus 0.31 per play and plus 20.20 total across an SEC season on 53 catches for 540 yards and 3 touchdowns. That's genuinely efficient receiver play in the best conference in college football. Layer on a 9.66 Relative Athletic Score — top three percent of receivers ever tested — and you've got a fifth-round prospect with first-round traits. Holmes pushed back on the easy gadget narrative: Law was a four-phase special teams contributor in college, including gunner work, not just a return man. Holmes called him a dog. The role intent is multi-phase contributor, not pigeonholed gimmick.

Pick of the draft. You can argue Miller on round-one capital and a historic athletic profile. You can argue Moore — edges with that sack production rarely fall to the middle of round two. The pick here is Jimmy Rolder. Linebackers who test in the top five percent athletically AND grade as elite instinctual processors are the rarest archetype in this draft class, and Detroit got one in the fourth. Holmes said the quiet part out loud: you can be as big and explosive as you want at off-ball linebacker, but if you can't process, it doesn't translate. Rolder checks both columns. Miller and Moore were premium-priced premium picks. Rolder is the value pick that could end up looking like the best player in the class.

So what does this mean for 2026? The defense got five new bodies aimed squarely at being harder to move — an edge, a ball-skills corner, an instinctive linebacker, two interior pressure pieces. That's a clear identity reset after a year that ended with Detroit watching the playoffs from home. The open question is whether one premium swing on Miller is enough to fix a line that surrendered seven quarterback hits a game. If he settles in and the front seven plays the way Holmes is describing, this class ages really well. Meat and potatoes. That's the draft. That's Muffed.