Alabama free safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. USA Today Sports.
It’s going to be interesting to see who the Detroit Lions go after with the tenth overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, and I think Texas A&M Aggies wide receiver Mike Evans and Alabama Crimson Tide safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix are the two most likely picks for the Lions. They already addressed the glaring hole at WR2 by signing former Seattle Seahawks wideout Golden Tate, and I love their decision to add someone who should be a great complement to Calvin Johnson. This draft is deep at WR, but Evans is such a talented, big receiver with great physicality and ball skills that he would make plenty of sense for the Lions. After all, you can’t have too many weapons.
Safety, however, is a bigger need for the Lions and getting together with James Ihedigbo and ironing out a deal probably wouldn’t address the position fully. According to Lions official site beat writer Tim Twentyman, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is visiting the team on a pre-draft visit today.
Most of these visits aren’t significant, but I think this one is watching for closely. Clinton-Dix would make a lot of sense for the Lions, and I continue to be steadfast in my belief that he is the best safety in the draft class. He doesn’t have a glaring hole to his game, he’s very smart, has good range, tackles well, and he’s solid in coverage. He and Glover Quin would form a solid safety duo, and Clinton-Dix would be a very nice replacement for cap casualty Louis Delmas. Some might say he isn’t worth taking with the tenth pick, though, and Evans is the higher-rated prospect on the vast majority of draft boards out there.