Detroit Lions: 7-Round 2019 NFL mock draft, version 3.0
By Zac Snyder
Penn State has been turning out draft prospects who have been tearing up the NFL Combine over the last couple years and Miles Sanders is one of the latest. Sanders went through the entire set of drills at the 2019 NFL Combine and posted solid numbers across the board.
Sanders had limited opportunities while playing behind Saquon Barkley at Penn State but rose to the occasion to help fill the void Barkley left behind. He carried the ball 220 times for 1,274 yards, eerily similar to the 217 carries for 1,271 yards Barkley had in his final season in Happy Valley.
Miles Sanders doesn’t enter the NFL with the same kind of fanfare, and rightfully so. Barkley was a touchdown machine and also provided much more in the passing game than Sanders did. However, we’re talking about the fourth-round here, not the second-overall pick. Sanders may be a poor man’s Barkley but a team could do a lot worse at this point in the draft.
Where the Lions stand at the running back position is open for debate. On one hand they look set with a four-man group of Kerryon Johnson, C.J. Anderson, Theo Riddick and Zach Zenner, but that is taking a short-term view. Only Johnson is signed beyond the 2019 season, so it should not come as a surprise if the Lions add a draft pick to the mix who they can count on into the future.