USAT: Lions Wire audio clip

USAT: Lions Wire

Mar 27, 2022

Call this the week of Malik Willis. The Liberty quarterback held his pro day this week and shone under the spotlight. Now the light shines favorably on Willis as a potential top-5 overall pick in April’s 2022 NFL draft. - At least one prominent draft analyst is strongly advocating for the Detroit Lions to select Willis with the No. 2 overall pick. Matt Miller of ESPN is clearly a fan of the idea in his latest mini-mock draft, where he projected the first 10 picks. - Miller offered this commentary in projecting the Lions to select Willis at No. 2 overall, - Maybe I’m buying into the pro day hype, but Willis has looked amazing throughout the pre-draft process. Detroit won’t find a player with his upside or traits with its second first-round pick (No. 32). If the Lions are going in on a quarterback this draft, it should be Willis. - Miller likened the rising hype for Willis to the Josh Allen experience back in the 2018 draft cycle. - After a very strong pre-draft process, Willis should be shooting up boards. Some might ask how a player can improve so much without playing in a game, and for Willis it’s much like how Josh Allen’s stock rose in 2018 despite his season being over at Wyoming. Both Willis and Allen showed improvement throughout the process. From the first day of Senior Bowl practices through the game, their accuracy and mechanics got better with guidance from NFL staffs and private coaching. - It should be noted that Allen started with a higher draft floor than Willis carried into the draft season. Allen was almost always regarded as a top-10 pick throughout the draft process. Willis had fallen into the second round of most projections after an uneven 2021 season for Liberty. - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Lions Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Lions Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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