NFC North – Undrafted Free Agents

Detroit Lions

T Chase Farris, Ohio St – The Lions most expensive UDFA with a $20k signing bonus for a player that many analysts thought would get drafted. Personally, I had Farris as a 6th-7th round pick. He started every game for the Buckeyes in their national championship 2014 season.

The Lions badly needed o-line help coming into the draft and addressed the position often with Taylor Decker (1st), Graham Glasgow (3rd), & Joe Dahl (5th), but Farris could contribute early in his career as well. He’s a former d-linemen who switched sides as a freshmen and played in 42 games at guard and right tackle over four seasons for the Buckeyes.

He’s understandably raw being relatively new at the position and it shows with his inconsistent pass pro technique, but Farris’ size (6’5, 310) allows him to be a mauler in the run game. Farris will most likely be moved inside to hide his pass pro issues and could eventually develop into an asset as a run blocker at guard.

WR Jay Lee, Baylor – Another player who I had graded as a draftable pick (5th-6th round). Lee has good size (6’2, 215), a big catch radius (33″ arms), tracks the ball well, and has enough speed to be a weapon deep (4.43).

Last year at Baylor he caught 38 passes for 738 and 8 touchdowns with a very impressive 19.9 yards per catch. After an eye-opening performance during Senior Bowl practices, it’s a shock to me that the Lions were able to obtain Lee without having to use a draft pick on him.

Despite Lee’s obvious potential, he’s far from a finished product. His lack of concentration at times led to a lot of dropped passes and like most Baylor receivers Lee only runs a few different routes. With the loss of Calvin Johnson there are jobs to be won in the Lions receiving core, and Lee could be an ideal complement to the diminutive Golden Tate if he can improve his focus, hands, and route-running ability.

WR Quinshad Davis, North Carolina – The unexpected retirement of Calvin Johnson left the Lions with a small receiving core but with the additions of Lee and Davis, they are adding some big targets for QB Matt Stafford. Davis definitely has size (6’3, 218) but their were reasons he wasn’t drafted.

Davis looked like a future top 100 pick after his first two seasons in Durham with 109 catches, 1,506 yards, and 15 touchdowns after his sophomore year, but regressed his last two seasons with 96 catches, 1,008 yards, and 10 TDs total over his final two campaigns. Overall his career numbers are great, but its troubling that Davis was less productive as his career progressed.

Davis does have excellent size and could help replace the loss of Megatron with the ability to be a solid possession receiver for the Lions and give Stafford a target with a wide catch radius. He’s gotten a lot of comparisons to Hakeem Nicks and if he can come close to that comparison, Davis could give the Lions another viable receiving option.

Others to watch: TE Cole Wick, Incarnate Word; CB Ian Word, Ohio

Next: Minnesota Vikings