This offseason has seemingly gone by at light speed and we are now less than a week away from the draft—a pivotal draft at that for the Detroit Lions. With the Lions being so cap strapped and passive in free agency, they will once again look to build through the draft. This is where they will add the high pedigree talent that is hard to find in free agency.
With that lens, let’s make a case for why the Lions should draft Olaivavega Ioane.
Olaivavega Ioane is a highly decorated, dominant guard prospect in this year’s draft class. He played his college ball at Penn State (4th year junior) and just turned 22 years old this month. He brings a developed, dense, muscular build with excellent length and wingspan for the position. His hands are also massive. He is 6-foot-4 and 330 pound and is a good, functional athlete. He also has s-tier body control and recovery ability to go along with advanced technical proficiency.
If you are unfamiliar with my evaluation process let me give you the quick 411. I use a weighted numeric scoring system that incorporates four major buckets to generate a score on a 0-100 scale: film/traits, analytics profile, athleticism, and intangibles. Each of those buckets has a set of position/archetype specific sub criteria. Using all-22 film, my process starts with the evaluation of every single snap a player played in his college career.
For this class, I have scored nearly 250 prospects and Ioane scores as a top-10 player on my board and my #2 OL overall. That is despite receiving a small ding in my system for positional value. Positional value aside, I believe Ioane is not only the safest OL in this class, I believe he also has the highest ceiling.
*You can find my formal writeups on Olaivavega Ioane and all the potential Lions targets in my 2026 NFL Prospect Guide.
What is his fit in Detroit:
First and foremost, this move would be to completely restore the identity of this football team.
There is a run game revolution happening in the NFL right now and there has never been a better time in the modern era to invest a high pick into an elite guard prospect.
Ioane would slide right in and be your left guard starter for the next 10 years (old cliche but I like it). Him next to Penei Sewell—if they follow through on a Sewell move to LT—would give the Lions the best left side in the NFL. The guard pair of Ioane and Tate Ratledge would also give the Lions the best young up and coming guard tandem in the league. It would also complete this IOL rebuild in the post Frank Ragnow world we are living in and the Lions’ interior trio with aforementioned guards and newly acquired Center Cade Mays would be terrifying for the league. Again, it would get the Lions back to their identity – imposing their will and curb stomping teams in the run game. Jahmyr Gibbs averaged just 3.0 yards per carry over the final 6 weeks of 2025. That cannot happen again.