One Year Ago, the Mocks Missed Two weeks from the 2026 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions Podcast rewinds to last spring. The mock draft pulse around Detroit told one story. The actual first round told another. The board buzzed with edge rushers and tackles. Derek Horton from Oregon surfaced. Kelvin Banks and Grey Campbell showed up. Donovan Esaraku led the projections to pick 28. Jihad Campbell appeared in multiple runs. Nick Skorton and Michael Williams stayed popular among the edge crowd. The problem was fit. Linebacker was not the urgent need some insisted it was. Jack Campbell was rising into an all‑pro level performer. Alex Anzalone held the room and covered space. Depth existed until Malcolm Rodriguez’s injury later in the year. The frenzy still pushed front‑seven names, mostly edges, into the Lions slot because it felt safe. The Pick Few Saw Coming The Detroit Lions took Tylek Williams, defensive tackle from Ohio State, in the first round. Almost no mock two weeks out had that connection. One social post on March 10, 2025, put Williams as a first‑round expectation after the combine. Then the projection shifted. Confidence wavered. Two days before the draft, a strong league voice said Williams would be the pick. That tip got ignored. The card in Detroit matched the early combine read, not the late‑cycle noise. The lesson is clear. Information gathered at the NFL combine tends to hold up. Pro days, public trackers, and the mock churn can blur the picture. The 2025 cycle did exactly that. It pushed a wave of edges and a linebacker into focus while the Detroit Lions quietly lined up a disruptive defensive tackle. The 2026 Takeaway As the 2026 NFL Draft approaches, remember what actually aligned with the pick a year ago. Combine intel mattered. Need still mattered. The perception that Brad Holmes refuses to draft for need gets overstated. The stronger takeaway is more precise. He does not force edge early if the board and role do not match value. Expect heavy speculation again. You will see more edges mocked to Detroit. You will see another linebacker or two. That happened last year with Donovan Esaraku, Jihad Campbell, Nick Skorton, and Michael Williams cycling through the slot. The room, the roles, and the Lions priorities will decide, not the volume of projections. Last spring offered a blunt reminder. The earliest accurate breadcrumb came out of Indianapolis. It pointed to Tylek Williams and interior disruption. The late noise washed it out. Detroit still made the right call. Keep that framework close as the clock ticks toward the 2026 first round. #detroitlions #lions #detroitlionspodcast #tylekwilliams #nfldraft #mockdrafts #defensivetackle #combineintel #donovanesaraku #jihadcampbell #jackcampbell #alexanzalone #malcolmrodriguez #edgerusher #nickskorton #michaelwilliams #bradholmes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices