Lions rumors: Micah Parsons could be the pick at No. 7

The Detroit Lions have been pegged as a trade-down candidate at No. 7 in the 2021 NFL Draft but Micah Parsons might be too enticing to pass up at that spot. 

To this point, the focus of the Detroit Lions offseason has been to tear things down in order to rebuild. The franchise traded away Matthew Stafford, allowed Kenny Golladay to hit free agency and made few other moves of consequence — unless you still believe in Jared Goff. All of this, however, has added to intrigue in regards to their strategy in the 2021 NFL Draft.

Detroit has long been believed to be a candidate to trade back out of the top 10. Doing so would be reasonable given that they have a full-blown roster reconstruction ahead of them and acquiring more draft capital would aid that cause. However, there are other rumblings starting to take hold with less than two weeks until the draft.

According to Albert Breer of MMQB, the Lions have been connected to Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons with the No. 7 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. Breer also mentioned that, if the franchise doesn’t trade back, they could be eyeing a top offensive tackle to fit new head coach Dan Campbell’s preferences. However, Parsons is very much in play.

Parsons is one of the most intriguing first-round talents in the draft. There are off-field rumblings that could depress his value but, just as importantly, he’s still raw at being a fully formed linebacker. He’s a surreal athlete and the potential is both enormous and obvious, but he’s not at that level yet. Still, it makes sense why a team would eye him with a top-10 pick given that ceiling.

Lions would be making a mistake taking Micah Parsons at No. 7

For as enticing of a player as Parsons is, it’s hard to justify taking him with the seventh-overall pick for Detroit. Yes, they are in need of a defensive game-changer and the Penn State product could very well become that type of player. But it’s not a guarantee. More pressingly, the Lions aren’t a defensive game-changer away from competing.

When you look at what a franchise like the Miami Dolphins has done in recent years, a rebuild is best construed when every move is in unison towards that common goal. Thus, staying at the No. 7 pick when there is the potential to trade back and garner more draft picks doesn’t coincide with the state of the franchise and the rest of Detroit’s moves to this point.

There is still time for final decisions to be reached and Parsons is not a done deal to the Lions. But the fact that he’s one of the reported options is quite intriguing at this point.