2023 NFL Draft odds: Detroit Lions heavily favored to select cornerback after trading Jeff Okudah, Devon Witherspoon an option

The first round of the 2023 NFL Draft will get underway on April 27 in Kansas City, and the rising Detroit Lions, who are the favorites to win the NFC North thanks to Aaron Rodgers likely leaving the division, are one of five teams to have two first-round picks. Which position will the Lions target with the first of those two picks at No. 6 overall? FanDuel now heavily favors a cornerback at -270 after the team this week traded CB Jeff Okudah to Atlanta.

It was definitely surprising that the Lions gave up on Okudah so quickly and got just a fifth-round pick in this year's draft from the Falcons for him. Okudah, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 draft from Ohio State, was limited to 10 games across his first two seasons due to injury but started 15 last year. He set career highs in tackles (73) and passes defended (seven) while recording his first career pick-six. Detroit did add cornerbacks Cam Sutton (Steelers) and Emmanuel Moseley (49ers) in free agency this offseason.

Keep in mind that a team's first pick prop is whenever that pick takes place – so even if the Lions trade out of No. 6, this would be active. They almost surely are going to take a defender, because while the offense ranked No. 5 in the league last year in scoring, the Lions were 30th in allowing 25.1 points per game and 30th in pass defense (245.8 yards per game) and still managed to finish 9-8, barely missing a Wild Card spot.

There's a pretty good chance the Lions will have their pick of cornerbacks if they stay at No. 6 as four quarterbacks and pass-rusher Will Anderson are expected to be the top five picks in whichever order. FanDuel lists Illinois' Devon Witherspoon as the -200 favorite to be the first corner off the board, followed by Oregon's Christian Gonzalez (+150) and then a huge drop.

Illinois had the nation's top scoring defense last season in large part due to Witherspoon, who was named first-team Associated Press All-America Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year after recording 17 passes defensed, three interceptions and 41 tackles (2.5 for loss) in 12 starts. The Jim Thorpe Award finalist didn't play in the bowl game. CBS Sports' scouting report on Witherspoon grades him as a potential future All-Pro.

No Illinois player has gone in Round 1 since receiver AJ Jenkins with 30th to the 49ers in 2012. The last top 10 pick from Illinois came in 1996 when Kevin Hardy was picked second overall, and teammate Simeon Rice went third. The highest-drafted Illini corner ever was Stan Wallace at No. 6 overall way back in 1954, selected by the Bears. 

That the Lions take a defensive lineman with their first pick is a +380 second favorite at FanDuel, which  also has a prop on which team takes Georgia All-American defensive lineman Jalen Carter. The former Bulldog was once the favorite to go No. 1 overall but has fallen on draft boards because of an arrest and suboptimal workouts. Detroit is the +300 co-favorite to take Carter along with Chicago, which traded down to No. 9 overall. 

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