With the 23rd Pick in the 2012 Dawgs By Nature Mock Draft, the Detroit Lions Select...

With the 23rd pick in the 2012 Dawgs By Nature Community Mock Draft, the Detroit Lions select...

Mark Barron, S, Alabama

This selection and write-up was made by nickmar19:

Detroit made great strides last year and made it to the playoffs for the first time in 12 years. I always like to see the Lions do well and I was excited for them to have a strong year. With all of the attention I paid to them, I saw they had no pass defense, no running game, and a quarterback with a history of injuries. I bounced around them drafting a left tackle or a running back, but with some further investigating, I remembered the running backs got the injury bug bad and the line actually had a pretty solid year.

Ultimately, I decided their biggest weakness was the secondary. With the draft's best safety, Mark Barron, on the board. and with three tackles already taken, he was hard to pass on. He is described as a three-year starter with great size and instincts. He isn't afraid to get his nose dirty and he would fit in perfectly with the Jim Schwartz-led Lions. He is just what the Lions need: a ball hawk. I expect him to step in right away and take the starting job from Amari Spievey and help improve the Lions shabby secondary.

I can't argue with this pick too much in terms of position. We saw how easy Matt Flynn was able to torch the Lions' secondary last season (although, by virtue of losing Eric Wright, the Lions automatically improved). Hopefully for them, drafting a safety will point them in the right direction for pairing a decent defense with an already-explosive offense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are on the clock next (pick received by rdy).