NFL Draft 2018: Detroit Lions seven-round mock draft 3.0
By Zac Snyder
Round 5
After starting with a player on offense it has been all defense the rest of the way so far, continuing with BYU linebacker Fred Warner.
Warner played a lot of football for the Cougars in his four years, the last three of which were as a starter. He was the team’s leading tackler last season and he’s shown himself to be able to do a little bit of everything.
He came away with at least one interception in each of his four seasons to finish with seven for his career. Warner was also a factor on the other side of the line of scrimmage, notching career totals of 6.5 sacks and 32.5 tackles for loss.
While he may be a bit undersized at 236 pounds, that’s not out of line with Jalen Reeves-Maybin, who the Lions selected in the fourth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Warner has tested very well athletically and could be a nice “Swiss army knife” for Matt Patricia’s defense playing not only linebacker buy more of a hybrid linebacker/safety role.
Warner screams the kind of player that Patricia wants so the defense can play situationally from week to week. He should be able to give some good special teams reps considering his athletic profile to provide early value even if it takes time to have a bigger impact on defense.