NFL free agency is less than three weeks away and the NFL Combine is next week. The Detroit Lions are going to be looking to fill holes in free agency, but we don’t quite know what those are just yet. So today we want to talk about my choice for best prospect the Lions could get in round one before free agency. We’ll come back and revisit this after the bulk of free agency concludes
The Lions need to take Alabama cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry with the 29th pick
Pros: For starters, his name is Kool-Aid. I mean that alone should be the reason why the Lions should draft him. In all seriousness, McKinstry has ability to become a lockdown corner. Something the Lions desperately need.
McKinstry was that at Alabama. Quarterbacks were completing just 48.7% of their passes against him and he only allowed three touchdowns in three years at Alabama. One each season. He was Pro Football Focus’ eighth highest graded corner in the country last year with an 88.8 grade.
Cons: The word is that he struggles against some of the stronger receivers out there. So a one one with someone like DK Metcalf or Mike Evans could give him some trouble. He could also use some work in the red zone.
Final Word
The worry here is will he be there for the Lions with the 29th pick? There’s a strong chance that he could be after the combine when players are expected to make moves up the board. He could also do that too, but as of right now, there are a lot of draft experts that expect him to be in the Lions range and there’s a lot of them that have also mocked McKinstry to the Lions too.