Dave Birkett

Detroit Free Press

LSU's Leonard Fournette is almost a lock to be the first running back taken in this month’s NFL draft, and there’s a good chance that Stanford's Christian McCaffrey will be the second.

If the Detroit Lions miss out (or pass on) either of those players in Round 1, NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said he knows the player they should target on Day 2.

“A running back that I love for them -- I think would be a great fit to complement what they already have -- is Kareem Hunt from Toledo,” Jeremiah said on a conference call Wednesday. “He’s almost 220 pounds. Not the most explosive guy, but you talk about somebody that runs behind his pads, between his tackles, can grind out tough yards. He's a little more elusive than he gets credit for. And he had a nice week down at the Senior Bowl. I think he’d be a great value pick.”

The Lions return their top four running backs from last season, but both Ameer Abdullah and Theo Riddick are coming off of season-ending surgeries, and Hunt would help fill the big-back role occupied by Zach Zenner and Dwayne Washington.

At Toledo, Hunt scored 44 touchdowns while logging nearly 800 career carries. He twice topped 1,400 yards rushing.

Jeremiah said Hunt, whom he projects as a third-round pick, is part of a running back class that he called “the best … I’ve seen in a decade.”

Fellow NFL Network analyst Bucky Brooks called the running back class “phenomenal” and said that the Lions need to find a workhorse to complement Abdullah and Riddick.

“The Detroit Lions need a bigger running back, a running back that can be a 20-plus-carry-a-game guy,” Brooks said. “They’ve tried to do it with the little guys that are more pass catchers, but they need a true running back that can help alleviate the burden on Matt Stafford to have to throw the ball 35 to 40 times a game. If they can find a feature back like a (Joe) Mixon or some of these other big backs in the draft, then I think you'll see that offense evolve and become one that is more suited to being a perennial playoff contender.”

Mixon is regarded as a first-round talent who’s expected to be taken on Day 2 of the draft because he punched a female student at Oklahoma. The Lions have a zero-tolerance policy against domestic violence that could take Mixon off their draft board.

Should the Detroit Lions draft troubled Oklahoma RB Joe Mixon?

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

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