The Detroit Lions have been a team that’s been really heavy on positional versatility since Brad Holmes took over as GM. This team loves a guy who can do more than one thing. The 2025 NFL Draft has a few of them.
The one that stands out the most though is Ole Miss’ J.J. Peguess. While he’s a defensive lineman by trade, Peguess also played wild cat quarterback for the Rebels and was a tight end there too.
Peguess is new to the defensive side of the ball. He’s only been a lineman for three seasons now, but he’s been pretty good at it. good enough to be a high day three pick.
The Lions could use him all over the place. Not only could he be a good run-stopping defensive tackle with some pass-rush juice, but tight end and full back are really the spots where they could get some extra usage out of him.
Peguess told A to Z Sports Detroit that he plans to test as a defensive lineman and a fullback/tight end at the combine. We asked if he felt confident that he could potentially catch some passes as a tight end in the NFL and be a blocker, too.
“I feel like I could. Just depends on whatever, whatever they need, if they need a blocking tight end, or if they need me to slip out and catch a pass. I mean, I feel like I could do that, like I had the interception strong ball. So I’ve shown it, and actually, when I work out, I’m gonna do D line drill. They also do full back slash tight end drills as well.”
Peguess had not formally met with the Lions at the combine, but he did say he had an informal meeting with the team earlier in the week.
As far as the quarterback thing goes, Peguess said he’s ready to run the wildcat wherever he winds up. For a team that ran a wild cat play with Penei Sewell this season, this feels like a match made in heaven.