Advertisement

2017 NFL Draft: Run on offense helps Detroit Lions land Florida LB Jarrad Davis

By The Sports Xchange

ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn watched anxiously as one offensive player after another went off the board in the first 10 picks of the 2017 NFL Draft on Thursday night.

Mitchell Trubisky. Leonard Fournette. Corey Davis.

Advertisement

The Lions hoped to find defensive help at the top of the draft; and, as the offensive selections started piling up, Quinn knew he would be able to do just that.

The Lions took Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis with the 21st pick, filling arguably their biggest need on the roster.

"Linebacker is a position that you normally don't have a large number of them on your draftable board just because in college football a lot of linebackers are undersized," Quinn said. "They're playing at 215, 220 pounds. So to get NFL-size linebackers with the speed and athleticism and all the stuff that goes into evaluating linebackers, he stood out."

Davis should compete for a starting job immediately on a Lions defense that ranked 18th in the NFL last year and struggled to force turnovers with any regularity.

Advertisement

He can play weak-side or middle linebacker and should eventually take over as play caller on a unit that also includes Tahir Whitehead, Paul Worrilow and Antwione Williams.

The Lions took Davis over Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster in part because of leadership and other intangible traits they liked.

At Florida, Davis was a two-year starter who amassed 158 tackles the last two seasons despite missing four games because of a high ankle sprain.

That injury kept him out of the combine, but he ran a 40-yard dash in the 4.60-second range and jumped 38.5 inches on his vertical at his March pro day. Had Davis taken part in the combine, his vertical jump would have ranked first among linebackers.

Quinn said he was attracted to "the whole package" of Davis as a football player and said Davis' high football character helped to "kind of minimize risk" that's inherently part of the NFL draft.

"He's a passionate football player," Quinn said. "He's got very good playing speed, very good tackler. Good blitzer. Good coverage player. This guy's a really well-rounded linebacker. As a freshman, he was the special teams player of the year for Florida when he was a backup linebacker, so he's got four-down value. I think he's a really well-rounded guy that has position versatility."

Advertisement

Latest Headlines