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With their third pick in the 2015 NFL Draft and the 80th overall selection, the Detroit Lions have selected Stanford cornerback Alex Carter. The Lions originally had the 88th overall pick in the draft, but they pulled off a trade with the Minnesota Vikings to move up eight spots. Here are the details on that deal:
Lions receive
2015 third-round pick (No. 80 overall)
Vikings receive
2015 third-round pick (No. 88 overall)
2015 fifth-round pick (No. 143 overall)
The Lions gave up the fifth-rounder they acquired from the Denver Broncos on Thursday to move up eight spots to select Carter. This means that the Lions are now back down to six picks in this year's draft, but clearly they wanted to make sure that they got Carter to fill their need at cornerback. He visited the Lions back in March, and here's what we wrote about him at the time:
Carter left Stanford a year early to enter the NFL Draft. As a member of the Cardinal, he started 33 games over three seasons, and he recorded a total of 146 tackles, five tackles for loss, two interceptions, 18 pass defenses and five forced fumbles.
With the Lions, Carter will be in a position to learn behind Rashean Mathis. The Lions needed someone to groom to be Mathis' eventual replacement, and Carter will step into that role. In 2015, Carter should only be needed as extra depth, but the hope would be that he could potentially start in 2016.
What are your thoughts on this pick?