Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

There are plenty of football reasons why I gave the Detroit Lions Florida linebacker Jarrad Davis in my latest mock draft, including that he's a very good player.

Davis started the last two seasons on one of the most talent-laden defenses in college football, and he was one of the most productive players in the SEC.

He's a sideline-to-sideline player against the run. He can cover tight ends and running backs and stay on the field in sub packages. And he has athletic traits that the Lions, who just so happen to need linebackers, like.

But beyond the football reasons why I think Davis is an ideal fit for the Lions, who have the 21st pick in Thursday's draft, is that scouts and analysts swear by Davis as a person. I had one scout tell me Davis was one of his favorite players in the entire draft for the way he carried himself, and ESPN analyst Todd McShay called him "top five in the class" in terms of his intangibles.

If you follow the bread crumbs that general manager Bob Quinn has dropped in the build up to this his second draft, you know that character and leadership are extremely important to what Quinn is trying to build in Detroit.

They were last year, when he drafted team captains Taylor Decker, Miles Killebrew and Anthony Zettel, and they are now as he looks for foundational pieces to what he hopes is an eventual Super Bowl team.

"We think this year’s draft is very deep at the positions we’re looking at and we’re hoping to not only improve the players on the field, but improve the overall locker room, the type of guys we want and hopefully that translates to winning," Quinn said at his predraft news conference Thursday.

"I think (character is) really important. That’s something that we look at and we ask our scouts to go out and find the guys that are leaders on their team, the guys that are high character, guys that love football."

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Davis checks off those boxes and more, and I trust that Quinn, in an open and honest moment, would tell you that's the sense he got when he and Jim Caldwell traveled to Gainesville, Fla., to privately meet with and work out players earlier this spring.

Davis twice returned early from ankle sprains last year in order to play in games, only to hurt himself again both times. Those injuries are part of his jacket now, along with a knee injury he suffered as a sophomore. They kept him out of the Senior Bowl and kept him from working out at the combine, but they shouldn't keep him from being a Lion if he's on the board with the 21st pick.

"He had an elite workout at his pro day and I think it just helped solidify everything that you see on tape," McShay said. "Good instincts. Very active versus the run. I think he’s probably in the top two or three in terms of range versus the run. He’s got an extra gear and solid tackler, good take-on skills. I think he can improve a little bit in zone coverage and just the kind of feel that he has, but I think it’s also coachable and he’ll develop it. So very complete player and a guy that I think belongs in the first round so long as that NFL team, obviously, will have cleared him medically."

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