Analyst: Four candidates for Lions at No. 23

With the Lions drafting at No. 23, there are any number of players who could be the best player available in general manager Martin Mayhew's eyes when they're on the clock Thursday night.

We talked to NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein, who wrote 504 prospect profiles this year, about candidates who would be the best fit for the Lions in the first round, and he mentioned four players.

1. Texas DT Malcom Brown

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 319 pounds

40-yard dash: 5.05 seconds

Bench press: 26 reps

Notable: He had 71 tackles, 13 for loss and 6 ½ sacks in 2014.

Zierlein: "You've lost three interior guys (Ndamukong Suh, Nick Fairley and C.J. Mosley) so from a need standpoint and a fit standpoint it just makes almost too much sense to pass on (Brown). … Brown's a penetrator. He's a 4-3 penetrator. He makes a lot of sense in that front."

2. Florida State DT Eddie Goldman

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 336 pounds

40-yard dash: 5.27 seconds (pro day)

Bench press: 19 reps (pro day)

Notable: He was a five-star recruit and ranked as Rivals.com's No. 7 player in 2012.

Zierlein: "He's not as athletic as Suh or Fairley, but he's powerful. He's more of a two-down run stopper, but he is a run stopper. And he's big. There's very few guys that are 330 that carry the weight like he does."

3. Oregon OT Jake Fisher

Height: 6-foot-6

Weight: 306 pounds

40-yard-dash: 5.01 seconds

Bench press: 25 reps

Notable: He started 22 games at right tackle in 2012-13 and 13 at left tackle in 2014.

Zierlein: "He's getting hot. He's going to jump in the first round."

4. Texas A&M OT Cedric Ogbuehi

Height: 6-foot-5

Weight: 306 pounds

40-yard-dash: None

Bench press: 23 reps

Notable: He suffered a torn ACL in the Aggies' bowl game in December.

Zierlein: "The Lions are in a position where they could probably be OK redshirting him for a year if need be for the greater good of the position … even though Ced may be able to play this year."

jkatzenstein@detroitnews.com

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