{"id":632199,"date":"2026-04-26T14:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632199\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T14:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T14:50:08","slug":"espn-comments-on-detroit-lions-first-round-nfl-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/632199\/","title":{"rendered":"ESPN comments on Detroit Lions’ first-round NFL draft pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Detroit Lions<\/a> chose Clemson<\/a> offensive tackle Blake Miller<\/a> at No. 17 overall in the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night from Pittsburgh<\/a>, ESPN’s Eric Woodyard provided draft analysis<\/a> of the franchise’s first-round selection<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to Woodyard, Miller is viewed as a foundational draft pick by the Lions<\/a>, as Detroit looks to reignite its aggressive, dominant offensive line unit that powered the franchise to back-to-back NFC North division titles in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n

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In particular, Woodyard pointed to Miller’s pass-blocking as one of his most impactful strengths and views it as a major boost to the Lions’ ability to better protect quarterback Jared Goff<\/a> next year and beyond.<\/p>\n

The Lions have added what they hope is another foundational piece with Miller, who is Detroit’s first offensive lineman selected in the opening round since taking All-Pro Penei Sewell<\/a> as the seventh overall pick in 2021. Miller will be expected to help the team immediately after the unit struggled in 2025, with the second-worst pass block win rate in the NFL (56%). He is a strong pick and fulfills a team need as the Lions have emphasized better pass protection for quarterback Jared Goff this offseason by beefing up the line through free agency and now the draft. – Eric Woodyard, ESPN<\/p>\n

In the post-draft assessments from head coach Dan Campbell<\/a> and general manager Brad Holmes<\/a>, both noted the consistency and physicality shown across Miller’s 54-career starts at Clemson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more\u00a0Lions<\/a>\u00a0coverage, follow us on X,\u00a0@TheLionsWire<\/a>, and give our\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0page a like.\u00a0Follow Scout on X:\u00a0@SpringgateNews<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: ESPN comments on Detroit Lions’ first-round NFL draft pick<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the Detroit Lions chose Clemson offensive tackle Blake Miller at No. 17 overall in the 2026 NFL…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":632200,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,248437,3372,3055,306154,306153,794,161670,6585,593,33875,30313,5132,85,306155],"class_list":["post-632199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-blake-miller","tag-clemson","tag-detroit-lions","tag-draft-analysis","tag-eric-woodyard","tag-espn","tag-first-round-selection","tag-jared-goff","tag-nfl","tag-offensive-lineman","tag-penei-sewell","tag-pittsburgh","tag-sports","tag-woodyard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=632199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/632199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=632199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=632199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=632199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}