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MVN writers mock draft: 15. Detroit Lions - DE Derrick Harvey, Florida

NFL

By Mick Miller

With the fifteenth pick in the MVN writers’ mock draft, the Detroit Lions select Derrick Harvey, defensive end from Florida.

With the Bears taking who I believe was the team’s top choice in Mendenhall, their next glaring need is a pass rush, and Harvey has been deemed the safest pick amongst the pass rushers in this draft. With the loss (and failure) of Kalimba Edwards and the trade of Shaun Rogers, the Lions are in desperate need of getting to the opponent’s quarterback. With many defensive holes to fill, the offseason has provided some structure as to narrowing down the areas to be pursued first in the draft. The secondary has been addressed in trades and free agency, bringing in Leigh Bodden from Cleveland (in the Rogers trade), and the signings of Brian Kelly and Kalvin Pearson from Tampa Bay, the Lions turn their attention to their front seven.

While a middle linebacker is a glaring hole and the team failing to secure either Jonathan Vilma or Dan Morgan, the Lions could attempt to fill that need at 15, such as they did last season when they selected Ernie Sims at nine. Many believed that was much too high to take Sims and he would have been available later. The same is being said here of Jerod Mayo, linebacker from Tennessee who led the Volunteers with 140 tackles last season. But with Harvey sitting there for the team at this pick, the need for a bona fide pass rusher and the opportunity to select a top one would prove too tempting to pass up.

Harvey is 6-5, 270, and runs the forty in the 4.8 range. He is long and athletic and has been projected to be a defensive end in a 4-3 scheme (which the Lions run) or an outside linebacker in a 3-4. What this means is versatility and although he has room to grow physically, he has shown the ability to handle the larger offensive lineman with both speed and quickness while having the necessary strength to be an every down defensive end. Dewayne White is the current starter at right end, but would be a much better fit and more effective at left end, his preference. Although the team likes Ikaika Alama-Francis, second year end out of Hawaii and veteran Jared DeVries, the addition of a speed rusher of the edge on the turn at Ford Field would certainly be enticing and would be the choice at this juncture.

Mick Miller is a columnist for MVN’s Detroit Lions site, Lions Den.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Derrick Harvey, Mock Drafts 2008, 2008 NFL Draft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.