Michigan nickelback Mike Sainristil has vaulted himself into first-round consideration with an impressive evaluating season leading up to the NFL Draft in Detroit on April 25. Sainristil ran a 4.47 40-yard-dash time at the 2024 NFL Combine, showcasing the straight-line speed that made him one of the best defensive playmakers in the nation last season.

On Friday, Sainristil was in a jovial mood as he replied to a post from a Detroit-based sports media network on X, tagging former Michigan teammate and current Detroit Lions edge-rusher Aidan Hutchinson.

Sainristil was listed as the potential missing link for the Lions’ 2024 secondary and the ex-Michigan DB seemed excited about the prospect of playing for the Great Lakes State’s NFL team.

Hutchinson was a Consensus All-American for the Wolverines in 2021. He finished as the Heisman Trophy runner-up to Alabama QB Bryce Young and a Maxwell Award finalist at the end of that season.

After being drafted second overall by the Lions, Hutchinson was named Pepsi’s Rookie of the Year in 2022 and made his first Pro Bowl in 2023, a season during which he led the Lions to the franchise’s first division title since 1993.

The Lions secondary needs a boost after the release of cornerback Cameron Sutton, who has a warrant out for his arrest for domestic battery by strangulation in Florida. Sutton was apparently at the Lions’ practice facility in Allen Park when Lions President Rod Wood learned of the news.

Sainristil posted 26 solo tackles, six interceptions and six pass break-ups for the Wolverines last season. He had an 81-yard interception return in the College Football Playoff national championship game against the Washington Huskies that essentially sealed the Wolverines’ first national title since 1997.

Sainristil was not listed in the first round of CBS Sports’ latest 2024 NFL Mock Draft.

He is projected as a second-round pick, which could mean the Lions would miss out on him unless they decide to trade up from their current 61st overall slot in the second round.

Lions General Manager Brad Holmes previously stated that the Lions are not necessarily bound to acquiring another cornerback this offseason, but Sainristil would add a different dimension to coordinator Aaron Glenn’s defense from his nickelback position as a fast and physical player who can hit, tackle and make plays with the ball in the air against opposing receivers.