With the No. 223 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions have selected outside linebacker Travis Lewis out of Oklahoma. Lewis is the Lions' final pick for the day, barring any trade activity, and he's the third linebacker selected by Detroit over its eight picks. In fact, he's the second one from Oklahoma, with Ronnell Lewis coming much earlier at pick No. 125 in the fourth round. The other linebacker is Tahir Whitehead, an outside linebacker from Temple, selected in the fifth round at pick No. 138.
Lewis will obviously have an uphill battle, and will likely need to contribute on special teams right away, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have what it takes to start. In fact, the National Football Post had this to say about him in their official scouting report:
Impression: He's a bit undersized and doesn't tackle as well as you would like inside the box. However, he's a good run and hit backer who plays the run well and will be able to make plays vs. the pass game in the NFL. Looks like a day one starter to me as a 43 backer, either on the weak side or possibly in the middle.
Not many seventh-round draft picks have "looks like a day one starter" in their scouting reports, regardless of who's doing the scouting, so there could be some solid value here for Detroit.
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