No. 45

Pick by Pride of Detroit Curtis Lofton Linebacker Oklahoma

With the 45th overall selection in the 2008 SB Nation NFL Mock Draft, the Detroit Lions have selected Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton.  Sean Yuille, head blogger at Pride of Detroit and the man responsible for the selection, explains his thought process below:

  After addressing a fairly large need at offensive tackle in the first-round, I decided to find the Lions a middle linebacker with pick #45.  I was holding out some small hope that Tennessee's Jerod Mayo would miraculously fall to the Lions' second-round pick, but the Saints took him off the board with the 40th selection.  Mayo would have been an enormous steal since the Lions might take him in the first-round in real life, but just as I did with the 15th pick, it was time to go to plan B.  In this case, my plan B for the Lions was Oklahoma linebacker Curtis Lofton.

Lofton would likely start off his career with the Lions as an outside linebacker so he can get comfortable with the defense.  Once Rod Marinelli and the defensive coaches feel that he is experienced enough, Lofton would move to the middle linebacker position.  Although Matt Millen would rather insert him in at MLB from day one, I have to agree with Marinelli on this one.  According to Marinelli's plan, Lofton (or any MLB that is drafted by the Lions) would gain knowledge of the defense before moving inside.  Once he is ready, he then can take over one of the most important positions on the field as he has to be able to lead the entire defense.

With offensive tackle and middle linebacker out of the way, the Lions still would be far from finished in regards to filling all of the needs they have.  To me, a running back makes more sense in the third-round as there should be a few good ones left.  Plus, Detroit has two selections in the third-round, so they could go in the direction of finding a cornerback, defensive end, or defensive tackle after adding a running back.  Like I said, there is still quite a bit of work to do, but after only two rounds I would say that this team already is much better with the addition of Chris Williams and Curtis Lofton.
 
Matt Miller, host of this site as well as owner of New Era Scouting, provides his analysis below:

Lofton is the middle linebacker that Teddy Lehman never will be. He's an athletic 'backer who has also played outside, but we see his future as the MIKE linebacker in this Tampa 2 scheme. He has the agility to run with tight ends, and the hips to drop into coverage. Lofton was the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year as a junior, no small feat. I like the idea of playing him at WILL before moving him inside. A good pick up for Detroit.

Grade: A  ::  Curtis Lofton Scouting Report - New Era Scouting :: Matt Miller's Top Five Prospects Remaining: 1.  LB Shawn Crable, 2.  RB Jamaal Charles, 3.  WR Earl Bennett, 4.  TE Fred Davis, 5.  QB Chad Henne

The Cincinnati Bengals, represented by Cincy Jungle, are now on the clock.  Their pick coming your way at 3PM Eastern, so stay tuned!