The 2025 NFL Combine is under way and the Detroit Lions are in town looking to find their players of the future. A lot has been said about what the Lions may want in the draft and pass rusher is definitely at the top of that list.
ESPN’s draft expert Mel Kiper had that in mind when he put out his pre-combine mock draft on Tuesday morning. In the mock he has the Lions taking UCLA outside linebacker Oluwafemi Oladejo. Here’s his reasoning for the pick:
“On one hand, Detroit ran into bad luck in 2024 with an inconceivable number of injuries to its defense, seemingly dooming the otherwise dominant team. On the other, the Lions never really had a clear No. 2 pass rusher opposite Aidan Hutchinson (who missed some time himself with a leg injury). Za’Darius Smith had four sacks over eight games after a midseason trade to Detroit, but no other edge rusher had more than three sacks. The rest of this roster is too good to ignore this, and GM Brad Holmes should be looking for answers in both free agency and the draft.
Oladejo has steadily risen in this class, moving from Round 3 to the Round 2 conversation with a good Senior Bowl week. The jump to Round 1 is a bit of a projection, but Oladejo is getting buzz right now — I think he could be in this range after the combine. He should test well considering his burst and intensity. And while he had just 4.5 sacks in 2024, his tape is really good.”
While Kiper is not wrong about Oladejo rising in the draft, 28 still feels like a bit of a stretch for him. We currently have his average draft position set at 79.00. That puts him in the middle of the third round. If the Lions took him at 60, that would feel more appropriate. But 28 from 79 is a really large jump and he would have to have a very good combine and pro day to get that far up the board.
At this point in the process, it seems the favorites to keep an eye on are Texas A&M’s Nic Scourton, Ole Miss’ Princely Umanmielen, or Marshall’s Mike Green. That is if any of those guys are sitting at 28. All three could potentially wind up just out of range for Detroit. We’ll see how things go, but reaching in the first round is not what the Lions should be looking to do when they really need to score at this particular position.