The Detroit Lions may be hoping Michigan football’s Aidan Hutchinson falls to them in this month’s NFL draft. But if Hutchinson goes No. 1 overall, as many suspect, the Lions still will have a trio of edge rush options available at No. 2.
Oregon’s Kayvon Thibodeaux, Georgia’s Travon Walker and Florida State’s Jermaine Johnson II are widely regarded as potential top-10 picks, though ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said each comes with concerns.
“They’re all different,” Kiper said Thursday. “Travon Walker they moved around (at Georgia). He only had 9.5 career sacks and 13 career tackles for loss, so you say the production was not there. But the disruptive plays, the hurries. His hurries were off the charts. He was getting in the backfield, so that was the underrated part.”
Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) is tackled by Georgia defensive lineman Travon Walker (44) during the second half of the Orange Bowl at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, on Friday, Dec. 31, 2021.
Walker played primarily inside in Georgia’s defense and there is debate about how best he fits in the NFL.
He ran a blazing 4.51-second 40-yard dash at 6 feet 5 and 275 pounds and has some of the longest arms for a defensive lineman at 35 1/2 inches, but one scout for an NFC team told the Free Press earlier this spring Walker’s best NFL fit is as a five technique.
[ I see Lions having 4 options with No. 2 pick in 2022 NFL draft. Here they are ]
“The quick-twitch is debatable for outside,” Kiper said. “I thought he showed more twitch and quickness inside. So you got to move him around, you got to find the right spot, you got to coach him up and he’s got incredible length, he’s got incredible talent, but he’s the kind of guy that’s going to have to carve a nitch and which spot’s that going to be? How is the coaching? Do they get the most out of him? There’s a little bit of a risk-reward there.”
Thibodeaux, Kiper’s sixth-rated prospect and No. 2 defensive end (behind Hutchinson), has…