We’ve reached the last day of the 2024 NFL Draft, and the Detroit Lions spent the first two days according to their plan, adding a pair of high-end cornerback prospects.
With four picks remaining, but none until the end of the fifth round, we’ll see what Brad Holmes and company come up with. This section of the document contains the most variety. Each team’s board is unique. A seventh-round prospect to one may be a fourth-rounder to another.
On Day 2 of the NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions added to their cornerback depth chart by selecting Missouri’s Ennis Rakestraw Jr. It was the organization’s second consecutive selection of a cornerback, after trading up to get Alabama’s Terrion Arnold at No. 24 overall in the first round.
Rakestraw, the Lions’ pick at No. 61 overall, is a muscular, press-man cover corner who adds another layer to defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn’s self-proclaimed “violent” squad.
“I call myself the tone-setter,” Rakestraw told reporters on Friday. “Our defence used to call me the team’s firecracker because, yes, I am a cornerback. But I’ll come up, set the edge, and smash you like a linebacker.
The hard-hitting defensive back isn’t hesitant to come up and make a tackle, as he demonstrated repeatedly while at Missouri.
In 36 career games with the Tigers, he has 107 tackles, eight for loss, 24 passes defensed, and one interception. Furthermore, he excelled as a run defender, garnering an 89.0 run-defense grade from Pro Football Focus in 2023.
His physicality makes him an ideal fit for the Lions’ defence. However, he was sceptical that Detroit would select him after Arnold went to the Lions in the first round.
