'He's still here?' Keith Abney II could be 'perfect fit' for Lions

The Lions had a choice to make, and they chose Jimmy Rolder. When they grabbed the Michigan linebacker in the middle of the fourth round, No. 118 overall, "it was kind of like, ‘Alright, Abney’s probably going to be gone,'" Brad Holmes told Fox 2 Detroit's Dan Miller after the draft. "Those are just the decisions you gotta make."

Instead, when the Lions were back on the clock at No. 157, Keith Abney II remained on the board: "It was just like, 'He’s still here?'" said Holmes. And at that point, Holmes said, the pick was a "no-brainer."

The Lions see immense value in the cornerback from Arizona State, widely projected to be a Day 2 pick. Most draft pundits considered him a top-75 player in this year's class. Abney's size might limit him at the next level and he lacks elite speed, but those are the only real knocks on his profile. And they might not really matter to the Lions, who view Abney as more of a nickel than an outside corner.

Add it all up, and Abney could earn a real role in Detroit's defense as a rookie in the wake of Amik Robertson's departure.

"We just had him so much higher on our board that he was just sticking out like a sore thumb. ... That is very good value to be able to get a player of that caliber, who can play outside, can play inside, he’s got ball skills, he’s got instincts, he can be sticky and he can tackle," said Holmes.

Like the Lions, Abney was "definitely surprised" to still be on the board in the fifth round, "but the wait don't even matter, man," he said. "I'm just glad to be a Lion." They have long been one of his favorite teams, going back to the days of Calvin Johnson. More recently, he became a fan of Dan Campbell. Now Abney gets to play for him, a sign, he said, that "everything is working out right."

In his last two seasons at Arizona State, Abney had 21 passes defended and five picks. He spent last year as their No. 1 corner and allowed a completion percentage of 44.3 percent and a passer rating in coverage of 46.1, per PFF, both among the best in the country. He considers his football IQ his best attribute, "being able to watch a lot of film and understand concepts and formations and pick up on tendencies." That's one of the reasons he tends to close on the ball so quickly.

"And my feet, of course, got great feet, and my toughness. That's why I love this fit. This is a perfect fit. I feel like it's a tough team that I'm joining, and I'm going to fit right in," Abney said. "And then something that I want to work on, I'll just say I had some penalties in college, want to clean that up. And that's something I've been working on this offseason and come preseason and regular season, we're going to see that it got cleaned up."

Abney did show a tendency for being handsy at ASU. He was flagged 13 times the past two seasons. But the Lions have never objected to aggressive, physical corners under Holmes and Campbell; just the opposite, in fact. That was one of the attributes they liked most about Robertson, a key piece of their defense during his two seasons in Detroit.

With Robertson gone, the Lions have a hole to fill in the slot. Abney should compete for that spot with free agent acquisitions Roger McCreary and Christian Izien (with returners Rock Ya-Sin and Ennis Rakestraw also likely in the mix). While Abney played almost all of his snaps in college on the outside, "I think he might tilt a little bit more to nickel at this level," said Holmes. That makes sense with his 5'9 frame.

It also makes sense for a defense that wants to be more adaptable this season. The Lions spent very little time in nickel last year, operating out of base far more frequently than any other NFL team. It was a rigid unit by year's end. But after some changes to their linebacker corps and some adjustments to the framework of the defense this offseason, they intend to be more flexible in year two under Kelvin Sheppard.

If nickel will be a bigger part of the plan, as Campbell indicated at the owner's meetings last month, it would help to have a good one.

"I’m willing to play anything," Abney said. "I view myself as very versatile. I just never got to play nickel at ASU, just because of the depth we had. I was actually the starting nickel going into my sophomore year and then we had a guy on the outside transfer out, so I had to move back to the outside. And then this year we had a couple of injuries, so I had to just stay outside so we can get elite play on the outside. But there were a couple of times where coach said, like, ‘Hey, if he goes down (at nickel), you got to go in.' So I know all the positions on the backend, and I have no problem playing inside or outside.”

Holmes doesn't project Abney to play inside on a whim. He sees in the 21-year-old "the instincts and the toughness" that it takes to make the transition. Nickel is a demanding position, where "you want speed to be able to match vertically, but you want a guy who has a little more short-area suddenness just to handle the two-way go routes and be able to get off the spot, and there’s a lot of run-action coming at you, too, at that spot," said Holmes.

"He’s going to be just fine. But again, didn’t think he would last that long, so just thrilled that we got him," Holmes said.

When the Lions called his name on Saturday, Abney said he shed a few tears. He hadn't heard from them much prior to the draft -- just a couple Zoom calls -- "so I was like, 'Dang, the Lions don't like me,'" he said with a smile. "But I guess they were just trying to play their cards sneaky.

"And I feel like they made a great decision," he said.

156 players were selected before Abney, including 18 corners, one of the real surprises of the draft. It won't be a surprise at all if he outdoes a lot of them from here.

"If I were a seventh-round, sixth-round, undrafted, I just wanted an opportunity," said Abney. "Just needed an opportunity. This is something I dreamed of as a kid, and I'm just grateful to be here. I'm grateful to be a Lion."