Getty Kellen Mond celebrates during the Orange Bowl.
The Detroit Lions have just about a month to go until the 2021 NFL Draft gets underway, and with free agency’s fast rush now in the rear-view mirror, folks are beginning to look toward the draft as the next big event on the calendar.
As a result, some of the mock drafts are beginning to fly in now, and the Lions have seen an early consensus build in terms of what they might do. Many figure the team to be interested in adding playmakers for offense at wideout and players on defense who can help on the back end.
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Recently, NFL.com analyst Chad Reuter took a look at putting together a very comprehensive four-round mock draft, and within it, he had the Lions confidently filling a pair of needs on offense and on defense. First, Reutter had Detroit selecting Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons with the seventh pick.
Here’s what he wrote about why:
“Parsons should be Dan Campbell’s type of player: aggressive, fast and tough, whether chasing down quarterbacks in the pocket or ball-carriers trying to get to the sideline.”
From there, Reuter continued to confidently fill out Detroit’s other big needs. He had the Lions picking up Florida State cornerback Asante Samuel Jr. in the second-round, then had the Lions grabbing explosive Purdue wide receiver Rondale Moore as the third-round pick. Finally, he finished off the mock with Texas A&M quarterback Kellen Mond as the team’s fourth-round pick.
As a whole, the mock was interesting for the needs it checked off and what it accomplished.
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Breaking Down Chad Reuter’s Lions Mock
It’s a balance between a couple major needs on offense and a few major ones on defense. The Lions grab a solid player early in Parsons for their linebacking group and manage to supplement that with an addition of Samuel Jr. in the second-round. Both picks would do a great job to help and transform the team’s struggling defense given the need for speed and playmaking at every spot. Parsons just impressed at his pro day, and Samuel Jr. has been given an early look by the Lions in the pre-draft process as well,
The move to grab Moore, a big play threat in college, is something which would help Detroit’s offense in a major way. The Lions haven’t hit a ton of home runs in the last few years on that side of the ball, and Moore would give them a quick shot to do just that. Finally, Mond is the kind of under-the-radar quarterback the Lions could grab that would help them at the position for years to come. After the team released Chase Daniel, they need some depth in the system, and Mond would provide that easily.
All-told, this is the kind of balanced mock draft that fans should like.
Mond’s Stats and Highlights
While the other players are interesting, Mond is obviously the highlight of this mock from a Lions perspective given he is a quarterback. With Texas A&M, Mond had an interesting few season career. He put up 9,661 yards, 71 touchdowns and 27 interceptions in his four-year career. Mond never had the big-time success that some of his contemporaries at the college had, but he is still seen as an intriguing quarterback heading into the NFL next season.
Watching the tape, it’s clear that Mond has a strong arm and the ability to make all kinds of throws downfield.
To this end, Mond is the kind of player that could end up playing a big role for a team like Detroit in need of quarterback depth.