The Detroit Lions were predicted to select an All-Big Ten edge rusher in a very early prediction for the 2026 NFL Draft.
The 2025 NFL Draft has come and gone and the Detroit Lions still have one glaring need.
They need somebody to start on the edge opposite Aidan Hutchinson.
After they decided not to address this spot in this year’s draft, they are currently looking at Marcus Davenport starting in that second spot.
Detroit Lions logo at the 2025 NFL Draft Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
That isn’t quite ideal for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Pro Football Focus’ Max Chadwick and Dalton Wasserman think the Lions will find a permanent solution not their problem in next year’s draft.
In their way too early mock draft for the 2026 draft, they predicted the Lions would select Penn State edge Dani Dennis-Sutton with the 27th pick.
Dennis-Sutton took a while to start putting up numbers in college, but he put together the best run of his career when it mattered most for the Nittany Lions.
He had seven tackles for loss during the College Football Playoff, including three against Boise State as Penn State made Ashton Jeanty look human in the Fiesta Bowl.
He also 4.5 sacks in the Playoff, with two in the semifinal against Notre Dame.
He’ll be expected to make even more of an impact in 2025 as he becomes the team’s top option off the edge with Abdul Carter now in the NFL.
Unless this Lions have something truly unexpected planned, this will still be a need for them ahead of next year’s draft.
Any veteran option they will hopefully add this offseason will only be a short-term solution.
They just drafted Ahmed Hassanein, but as a sixth-round pick it would surprising for him to be that guy.
Luckily, the team took care of some of its future needs already in the 2025 draft, which will allow them to focus on this spot in their lineup in 2026.
This far out it is just about impossible to know which prospects will be looking at in a given range of the draft, but it seems very likely the Lions will still be looking for an edge and Dennis-Sutton looks like he could be a good fit there for them.
