Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

PHILADELPHIA -- The more research they did on Jarrad Davis, the more positive feedback they heard.

They talked to trainers and equipment managers, position coaches and Florida football head coach Jim McElwain. By the time they were done, the Detroit Lions had amassed an impressive dossier of "glowing remarks" on one of the nation's best linebackers and were zeroing in on him in the NFL draft.

"It was one after another," general manager Bob Quinn said Thursday. "It wasn’t just one source or one coach, it was everybody in the building. And then to solidify it, we went down there, myself and a few others, and we kind of had a long talk with him and spent a number of hours with him and felt real comfortable."

The Lions made Davis the 21st pick of the first round on Thursday, solidifying a linebacker position that was one of the biggest trouble spots on their defense last year. In the process, they passed on All-America Alabama linebacker Reuben Foster, a player that was arguably one of the top 10 talents in the entire draft but had many more red flags.

Foster, who had a diluted drug test at last month's NFL combine, is recovering from postseason shoulder surgery and has associates that troubled some NFL teams, went 10 picks after Davis, 31st overall to the San Francisco 49ers.

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Asked why the Lions favored Davis over Foster, Quinn said, "The whole evaluation between all the linebackers, we just came up with Jarrad Davis as the top guy at that time."

While character might have been the separating factor, Davis was an immensely productive player in his four seasons at Florida.

He totaled 158 tackles in his two seasons as a starter and missed four games last year with a high ankle sprain. Davis twice tried to play through the injury, only to hurt it worse.

He sat out the Gators' Outback Bowl win over Iowa and hadn't recovered enough to participate in the NFL combine in March.

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Davis admitted at the combine that the injury was difficult to deal with, but said it ultimately helped him grow in other ways.

"It was a great challenge for me to really grow up and develop as not only a player but a man," he said. "A lot of things in life aren’t going to go your way, but to really kind of take that background and help those younger guys, it kind of helped me see what my role could be later on maybe after my playing days are over."

When Davis finally worked out for scouts at Florida's pro day, he showed some of the rare athletic traits the Lions like in their linebackers.

He ran a 40-yard dash in the 4.60-second range, and at 6 feet 1 and 238 pounds, he posted a 38.5-inch vertical jump. Had he taken part in the combine, that would have ranked first among linebackers.

Quinn said Davis can play as a weakside or middle linebacker and will be a four-down player for the team. He's considered a strong pass defender -- an area Lions linebackers struggled in last year -- and was Florida's special teams player of the year as a freshman.

"He’s a passionate football player," Quinn said. "He’s got very good playing speed, very good tackler. Good blitzer. Good coverage player. This guy’s a really well-rounded linebacker."

With the Lions, Davis should eventually be the playcaller on a linebacking unit that includes Tahir Whitehead, Paul Worrilow and Antwione Williams, and he joins cornerback Darius Slay, defensive end Ziggy Ansah and last year's second-round pick, A'Shawn Robinson, as potential building blocks on defense.

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Quinn said he grew excited about the possibility of landing help for the Lions' 18th-ranked defense as the first 20 picks of Thursday's draft unfolded.

Seven of the first 10 picks were offensive players, and the Lions, who fielded a few trade inquiries while they were on the clock, knew they'd have their choice of several solid defensive players when their picked rolled around.

"There was a number of players that were definitely up there that we were kind of looking at about five picks before and it was going to be a tough decision," Quinn said. "But the board fell the way it did and like I said, it’s a player we targeted and a player that we wanted and we were fortunate to get him."

The draft started off as expected Thursday when the Cleveland Browns took Texas A&M pass rusher Myles Garrett with the No. 1 overall pick, then a run on offense quickly followed.

The Chicago Bears traded third- and fourth-round picks this year and a third-rounder next year to move up one spot and select North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky second overall.

The San Francisco 49ers took Stanford defensive end Solomon Thomas at No. 3, the Jacksonville Jaguars followed with LSU running back Leonard Fournette at No. 4 and the Tennessee Titans took Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis No. 5.

Davis is highest-drafted wide receiver ever from the Mid-American Conference, passing Randy Moss, the 21st pick in 1998.

At No. 6, the New York Jets took the draft’s best safety, LSU’s Jamal Adams, before four more offensive players closed out the top 10.

The San Diego Chargers took Clemson wide receiver Mike Williams at No. 7, the Carolina Panthers took Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey at No. 8, the Cincinnati Bengals took Washington receiver John Ross at No. 9, and the Kansas City Chiefs traded a third-round pick and next year’s No. 1 to the Buffalo Bills to move up and grab Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes at No. 10.

"We had those guys graded probably about where they went but I was a little bit surprised about how fast some of those offensive players went, just to be honest," Quinn said. "We were expecting a few more defensive players to go in the 20 picks before ours."

The Lions can continue addressing defensive needs on Day 2 of the draft today, though they also have holes to fill at wide receiver, running back and tight end.

They have seven picks left in the final six rounds, including two in the sixth round, and pick 53rd overall in Round 2 today.

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!