Brad Holmes Reveals Detroit Lions Considered Trading ‘Way Up’ In First Round

“I felt like, from the outside looking in, we had this big tackle target on our backs,” Holmes explained. “So if a team behind us was in the tackle market then they might want to jump us as well.”

That created a tense balancing act.

Move up and risk losing valuable draft capital.

Stay put and risk getting jumped.

Or trade back and potentially miss out altogether.

Draft board fell perfectly for Detroit

In the end, patience paid off.

When the Los Angeles Rams selected a quarterback instead of a tackle, the Lions’ confidence began to grow.

“As Holmes explained, “right after LA took the quarterback, I felt pretty good that we might be able to just get Blake.”

From there, the board continued to break in Detroit’s favor.

“Right about pick 14 I felt pretty good that we would be able to keep our assets and still land Blake,” Holmes added.

The bottom line

The Lions were prepared to be aggressive.

They explored moving up.

They fielded interest from teams looking to move down.

But when it mattered most, they trusted the board, and it rewarded them.

Detroit landed its guy in Blake Miller without sacrificing valuable assets.

And in a draft full of uncertainty, that may end up being the biggest win of all.