Throughout the 2025 NFL offseason, there has been a strong belief the Detroit Lions will pursue an edge rusher in the first round of this year’s draft. Mock drafts have predicted the team will select a wide range of edges. Their free agency activity hasn’t changed the expectation. They let Za’Darius Smith go and haven’t added anybody to replace him. It seems that could lead the Lions to pursue an edge prospect from the Big Ten. The Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon tweeted that he has heard from multiple sources that the Lions have strong interest in UCLA edge Femi Oladejo. Oladejo has the same problem as many of the edge rushers in this year’s draft class. He just didn’t produce as a pass rusher during his college career. He had just six sacks in four college seasons and peaked at 4.5 in his senior season. However, that is partially because he made the switch from linebacker during his college career.
Oladejo was.productive in other ways. He had 91 total tackles as a sophomore and 240 over the course of his college career. He also had 14 tackles for a loss this past season. He put together a solid performance at the combine with a 36.5″ vertical, which tied him for fifth among edge rushers, and a 10′ broad jump. His potential will be what convinces a team to draft Oladejo in the first couple of rounds. It seems unlikely that he’ll be the answer to the Lions’ pass rush needs in 2025, but that will be the case for many of their draft options this year. If the Lions don’t add an edge before the draft, they’re going to have a tough decision to make about a lot of prospects with flawed profiles, but it seems they may have a favorite at the position more than a month before draft day.
