NFL mock draft 2017: Pride Of Detroit chooses Taco Charlton in blogger draft

On Thursday evening, I participated in a one-round mock draft for the site Chat Sports. The website hosted the event on Facebook live, and had one representative for each NFL team from their respective blogosphere. Each mock general manager was given two minutes to make their pick and the two-person panel hosting the show from Chat Sports discussed their pick, all while Facebook users were grading and discussing the pick. The event was really neat, and I highly suggest watching it, if you have the time.

I obviously represented the Detroit Lions and the 21st overall pick (no trades were allowed). Here’s what had transpired in the draft before my pick:

1 - Cleveland Browns - DE Myles Garrett (Texas A&M)
2 - San Francisco 49ers - LB Reuben Foster (Alabama)
3 - Chicago Bears - DL Jonathan Allen (Alabama)
4 - Jacksonville Jaguars - RB Dalvin Cook (Florida State)
5 - Tennessee Titans - S Jamal Adams (LSU)
6 - New York Jets - CB Marshon Lattimore (Ohio State)
7 - Los Angeles Chargers - DL Malik McDowell (Michigan State)
8 - Carolina Panthers - RB Leonard Fournette (LSU)
9 - Cincinnati Bengals - DE Derek Barnett (Tennessee)
10 - Buffalo Bills - S Malik Hooker (Ohio State)
11 - New Orleans Saints - DL Solomon Thomas (Stanford)
12 - Cleveland Browns - QB Deshaun Watson (Clemson)
13 - Arizona Cardinals - WR Corey Davis (Western Michigan)
14 - Indianapolis Colts - DE Tim Williams (Alabama)
15 - Philadelphia Eagles - WR Mike Williams (Clemson
16 - Baltimore Ravens - CB Sidney Jones (Washington)
17 - Washington - DL Montravius Adams (Auburn)
18 - Tennessee Titans - WR John Ross (Washington)
19 - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - TE O.J. Howard (Alabama)
20 - Denver Broncos - TE David Njoku (Miami, FL)

For my pick, I went with defensive end Taco Charlton out of Michigan. You can watch my justification for the pick below at the 1:53:15 mark:

Here’s a transcript of my clip:

"This is a guy that people describe as freaky athletic all the time. He gets that common moniker. He’s 6’6", 272, really freaky athlete in that he’s very powerful, he’s got super long hands, he’s got very quick speed and a nasty spin move. And with the right teaching, I think he can have quite the bullrush.

Now, he’s a guy that a lot of people are a little scared of because of his limited production. He wasn’t a starter at Michigan until his senior year, but he did pick it up pretty quickly with that new defensive coordinator that was there in 2016. He’s much more of a 4-3 defensive end and it really showed that year. He finished with 9.5 sacks his senior year, including 13 tackles for loss. First-team Big Ten. This is a guy that is going to fit the Detroit Lions perfectly.

The Lions, last year, only had 26 sacks; that’s the second-fewest in all of the NFL. They only had 14 takeaways all year, that’s the fourth-fewest in the league, and that includes five straight games to finish the season with no turnovers. Taco Charlton is a guy who is going to get to the quarterback, he’s going to create some pressure and most importantly, he’s going to get some turnovers for this team that desperately needs playmakers on defense.

There were a lot of other options I considered at this pick. There’s a lot of offensive line talent still on the board and the Lions are not sure if they have their starting right tackle on their roster right now. So I considered Ryan Ramczyk, I considered Cam Robinson. I also considered linebacker Zach Cunningham out of Vandy. He’s another guy that could be a playmaker on defense.

But in the end, I think Taco Charlton is a no-brainer pick right here. He’s going make some big plays for this defense and that’s exactly what the Lions need in 2017."

Thanks to Chat Sports for inviting me to take part in the mock draft. How do you think I did? Vote below.