The Detroit Lions Draft Teez Tabor At Pick 53 In The 2017 NFL Draft
The Lions took a bit of a gamble by selecting cornerback Teez Tabor who played his college football at Florida. The former Gator has good size at 6’0” and 199 lbs. Heading into the season many thought Tabor would be the top cornerback prospect in this years class. Unfortunately for Tabor, many cornerback prospects emerged and he fell a little bit. While at Florida, he was able to rack up 104 tackles, 28 pass deflections, 11 tackles for loss, eight interceptions (three returned for a touchdown), four sacks, three fumble recoveries and one forced fumble.
Tabors Collegiate Accomplishments:
- 2014 Freshman All-America First Team honors from the Sporting News
- 2014 Second Team honors from Scout.com
- 2014 SEC All-Freshman team
- 2014 SEC Co-Freshman of the Week Honors
- 2015 First Team All-SEC by Coaches, AP, ESPN.com, Athlon, PFF and Gridiron Now
- 2015 Sporting News Second Team All-American
- 2015 Honorable Mention All-America by SI.com and PFF
- 2016 Second Team All-America by the FWAA, AFCA, CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated
- 2016 Third Team All-America accolades by AP
- 2016 Garnered First Team All-SEC honors by the league’s Coaches, AP, Athlon Sports, ESPN.com, and Gridiron Now
- 2016 Pro Football Focus Second Team All-SEC accolades
Check out his profile here.
Why Did The Lions Draft Teez Tabor?
The Lions’ secondary struggled at times last season. Nevin Lawson, the Lions starter opposite of Slay last season, isn’t necessarily a bad player, but due to his lack of size, he may be a better fit in the slot. Tabor could become the Lions starter opposite of Slay and that would allow Lawson to move to slot duties.
Despite his deficiencies, Tabor could be a welcome addition to Detroit’s secondary. Tabor does a good job of mirroring his receiver at the line of scrimmage, which helps him limit separation on routes that are short or medium depth.The Lions were near the bottom of the league in takeaways last season. Adding a playmaker such as Tabor could help the team in that regard moving forward.
You can check out Tabor for yourself here.
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