B
Detroit Lions
The Lions robbed the room for Golday. Final grade: B.
by SunDGod ·
2026 NFL Draft
· 9 picks
· 8 steals
· 0 reaches
The board owed the Lions one, and it paid up: Jake Golday, the No. 59 name on the board, sitting there at Round 4, Pick 18 like a gift left on the doorstep.
The running back hole is the one line item this class does not answer. Cornerback was the priority and it is no longer a question, which is most of the job.
Nothing here to lose sleep over, and plenty to feel decent about.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick No. 17 they get a downhill thumper at linebacker at a price that makes it sweeter. A real need, handled.
Dillon Thieneman slipping to No. 50 is the kind of luck good rooms make for themselves. The biggest hole on the depth chart just got a whole lot smaller.
Steal is underselling it; Jake Golday at slot 118 is a heist with the alarm still ringing. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
You do not let an offensive lineman like Sam Hecht reach the 128th pick and blink. They did not. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
The board had Isaiah World higher than Round 5, Pick 17, and the offensive lineman fell to them anyway. This was priority one on the needs board, and now it is handled.
Charles Demmings in the 181st overall pick is the kind of fall that makes a whole class. It also answers one of the loudest questions on the roster.
A tidy bit of business in pick 205, where Jeff Caldwell graded well above the range. A need, and now a little less of one.
Taylen Green at the Round 6 slot is a first-round grade at a bargain-bin price, no notes. A sensible fit that makes the depth chart a little sturdier.
They did well to land Riley Nowakowski in slot 222, just ahead of his grade. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.