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The night football fans have been anxiously waiting for since the conclusion of the Super Bowl (for some fan bases even sooner), has come and gone. Night one of the NFL Draft is in the books, with night two kicking off in a matter of hours.

Intriguing is one way to put day one. The draft started with a bang when the Jacksonville Jaguars gave up a kings ransom to move up just three spots to draft two-way superstar Travis Hunter. It was a scene straight out of the movie ‘Draft Day’, and fittingly, the trade involved the Cleveland Browns and a rookie general manager for the Jags.

Cleveland got an incredible haul in that trade: the fifth overall pick, 36th overall pick (round-two), 126th overall pick (round-four), and Jacksonville’s first-round pick in 2026. If all that wasn’t sweet enough, they still landed Mason Graham, the No. 1 player on my board, with the fifth overall pick. An incredible win for Browns GM Andrew Berry.

As far as the Cleveland Browns go, it was a case of the poor getting a bit richer. However, some of the Lions’ greatest competition landed some prospects with great value.

The Philadelphia Eagles have the best overall value differential from my big board after night one by landing Jihaad Campbell. The Alabama product was No. 11 on my top 257 big board. They moved up one spot in a trade with the Cheifs to ensure KC didn’t take him off the board. The linebacker/pass rusher hybrid is going to fit like a glove on an Eagles defense that is littered with SEC talent.

Some AFC contenders also fall in the category of the rich getting richer. The Baltimore Ravens drafted one of the can’t miss prospects in this draft in my opinion. Malaki Starks is a gifted talent and Baltimore was granted a gift with him falling to the 27th overall pick. Starks was No. 12 on my board.

Kansas City needed offensive line help, and they got it with Ohio State’s Josh Simmons, No. 22 on my board. The Cheifs were able to grab him with the 32nd overall pick.

Draft Grades:

As you can see by my draft grades, the Eagles, Cheifs, Ravens, and Bills all did very well. Most notably, the Green Bay Packers scored an A+ for drafting Jordan Love a new weapon, the wide receiver that franchise has been waiting decades for in the first-round.

But, our Lions were graded a solid B. They don’t necessarily fall into the category of the rich getting richer.

In my mind, Jihaad Campbell seemed like an easy choice, given Holmes’ history of drafting Bama boys. Mike Green seemed like a home run pick. Donovan Ezeiruaku seemed like a productive pass rusher to pair with Hutch, and Will Johnson seemed like a fantastic value pick and a good pairing for Terrion Arnold and DJ Reed. However, they suprised me and many others by selecting Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams.

It seemed odd at the time. Williams wasn’t near the top of experts’ big boards at the time, and we know Brad always says he takes the best player available. Obviously, he was at the top of Brad’s board, but it was definitely still a surpise to us. He doesn’t fill a pressing need, and he seems to be a similar player to McNeil and Reader. Detroit is already very good at stopping the run, and that’s Williams’ specialty. However, I still like the pick, even though i don’t love it.

Positives: Williams possess a lot of power and can use that to develop into a disruptive force as an interior pass rusher. That’s going to be the key with this pick. Can he be productive as a pass rusher, and can he help Aidan Hutchinson? We already know that he is a fantastic run stopper. Williams might be the best IDL against double teams. Williams uses his strong hands to stack and shred offensive lineman, which is key towards stopping the run.

As we know, the NFL is a copy cat league, and part of the reason why Philadelphia was so good at getting after the quarterback was their ability to suffocate the QB in the pocket by getting pressure from the interior, which only helped their edge rushers. That’s just one reason why adding to the interior could make sense for the Lions. Alim McNeil’s injury and D.J Reader’s age/contract could have also been a factor in this draft choice.

Negatives: Williams struggles with consistency. He’s struggled with his pad-level as well, which can cause him to lose leverage. His pass rush arsenal is subpar, something he’ll need to work on as he develops in the NFL.

Wrap-Up:

I think Williams is a good pick. He’ll definitely be able to make an impact early as McNeil recovers from his ACL injury. My biggest hope is that he can pack a powerful punch as a pass rusher. Detroit’s pass rush was atrocious in 2024-25, so it would be great if Williams can contribute in that category.

There are still a ton of really good draft prospects that make sense for the Lions in round two. We’ll be watching closely to see how the remainder of the draft unfolds for the Lions. You can count on Michigan Sports Media Network for the coverage.

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