B
Detroit Lions
The Lions let McAlister fall into their laps, and walked away with a B.
by nightrain ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 6 steals
· 0 reaches
The Lions' one glaring miss is edge rusher, a need they left exactly as they found it. A dependable weekend that grades out a B.
That is a wide receiver worth more than the slot they spent on him, plainly. The roster is better shaped than it was, with cornerback chief among the fixes. Nearly every premium pick went to that side of the ball.
A competent weekend that does not make headlines and does not need to.
Pick-by-Pick
In Round 1, Pick 17 they get the heartbeat of the defense, and a steal at that.
Caleb Tiernan in pick No. 50 is exactly on the number, no argument either way. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Bud Clark in the 118th pick. That was the need underlined and circled, and now it is checked off.
Davison Igbinosun slipping to No. 128 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
A quiet steal in pick 157: Isaiah World for less than the market said. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
A clean, defensible pick in the Round 5 slot with a little surplus value in Domani Jackson. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
Value with a capital V on Cole Payton in No. 205, a genuine coup. It patches a soft spot without any drama.
They barely believed it either: Eric McAlister still on the board at the 213th overall pick. A sensible fit for a spot that needed help.
Aiden Fisher at pick No. 222 is neither steal nor reach, just the going rate. It plugs a real leak on the depth chart.