Mock drafts come out basically every day anymore, and they tend to look more and more the same. Writers go pick by pick to predict who seems most likely to wind up with a certain team, and so far, the Lions have seen plenty of shares of Mississippi State edge rusher Montez Sweat and Iowa tight end T.J. Hockenson with the eighth overall pick.

NFL.com’s Cynthia Frelund decided to try something different. She went the analytics route, using a formula to compile expected added win totals for players on different teams, essentially matching impact potential with the need of the team and weighing positional value.

In this model, the Lions came away with LSU cornerback Greedy Williams in the first round and Michigan linebacker Chase Winovich in the second.

“Williams’ game-measured straight-line speed staying with receivers (which I measured via computer vision) during his time at LSU and the disruption caused by jamming receivers from the line of scrimmage make him a strategic fit,” Frelund wrote.

Williams has been a Lions possibility in past mock drafts, but momentum for the idea has waned due to concerns over Williams’ tackling in run support. Perhaps he’s making business decisions and the switch will flip once the hits are no longer free. A second-team All-American in 2018, Williams brings the 6-foot-2-inch height Matt Patricia covets in a No. 2 cornerback, and his ability to cover in man could boost a Lions team that struggled to cover anyone that way last season.

At 6 feet 3 inches and 256 pounds, Winovich plays with an edge and racked up 17 tackles for loss last season, when he became a third-team All-American. He could bring the Lions an edge rusher who can also make plays against the run, taking advantage of the resources they have pumped into the defensive line.

The Williams-Winovich route would ignore top talent on offense at needy positions like right guard and tight end, but it could give Patricia the goods to put together a really strong defense this year after the team signed defensive end Trey Flowers and cornerback Justin Coleman in free agency. With Matthew Stafford, Kerryon Johnson, Marvin Jones and Kenny Golladay on the other side of the ball, it’s possible the Lions would then have a balanced team capable of really improving upon the 6-10 record they posted in Patricia’s first year.

Of course, any computer-based system has some blind spots, and this one has some picks that will almost surely not happen. Georgia cornerback DeAndre Baker going second overall is the most obvious, followed by Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray falling all the way to 13th. Frelund acknowledges these gaps in her writeups, emphasizing the mock is mostly data to consider rather than a predictive model.

Those gaps come into play in the Lions projection. Williams’ lack of run support doesn’t mesh well opposite Darius Slay, who can also make some business decisions in this part of the game. Williams can take plays off in this regard, and that could struggle to mesh with a Lions coaching staff that demands full-out intensity at all times.

If Williams can show that he’ll play differently in the NFL, the fit could work. It does match talent to need at a critical position, which is how teams make leaps from year to year.