If you ask most NFL draft experts, the “Michigan football star Aidan Hutchinson to the Detroit Lions” dream is dead.
Free-agent deals, trades and franchise-tag designations have spurred a new slew of draft projections this week and transformed what many thought the first round would look like.
The Lions have three of the top-34 picks and could use one of them (likely the latter two) to draft its quarterback of the future. With the draft about five weeks away, several quarterbacks in this class will soon be performing at pro days and in workouts.
But the debate centers on the top of the draft, where Detroit picks second.
[ It makes more sense than ever for Detroit Lions to go young at QB ]
For much of the offseason, the assumption was the Jacksonville Jaguars, who pick first, would take an offensive tackle to sure up the line protecting 2021 top selection Trevor Lawrence. That calculus has apparently changed.
When Jacksonville stuck the franchise tag on OT Cam Robinson, analysts took…