Detroit Lions: 7-Round 2019 NFL mock draft, version 3.0
By Zac Snyder
Barring a day one surprise, the second day of the draft looks like a prime spot for the Detroit Lions to add youth and depth to their group of cornerbacks. Bob Quinn’s disastrous pick of Teez Tabor comes back to bite him here as he still needs to find a corner to play opposite Darius Slay in the long term. Had all gone according to Quinn’s plan, Tabor would have that role locked down heading into his third year.
Previous mocks in this series featured Justin Layne and Amani Oruwariye as cornerback picks on day two and here we see Rock Ya-Sin. Though he comes to the NFL out of Temple, he became an Owl as a grad transfer after playing at Presbyterian. That means limited experience at the higher levels of college football, but a solid season means fewer concerns as he makes the next jump in levels.
It’s the physical attributes that coaches will like with Lance Zierlein calling Ya-Sin a “body-beautiful cornerback” in his draft profile on NFL.com. Athletically, the picture is more mixed. Ya-Sin has a good athletic profile overall but his testing was a mix of boom or bust at the NFL Combine and his pro day. Drills designed to test a player’s agility were particularly concerning.
Maybe the Lions have other corners in mind that they would prefer, but Rock Ya-Sin is one option who should be in the mix for other corner-needy teams to consider in this range of the draft.