With no Round 3 pick, Lions could look to trade down in Round 2

Brad Holmes has moved up in the second round of two of the past three NFL drafts to get a player he coveted. This year, the Detroit Lions general manager could be looking to move down.

Holmes indicated after the first round Thursday, April 23, that he might consider moving off the 50th overall pick, in Friday's second round, to acquire extra choices later in the draft.

The Lions enter Day 2 of the 2026 NFL Draft without a third-round pick. Last year, they traded their original third-round choice, plus a third-round compensatory pick, to move up and take wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa in Round 3.

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes speaks at the NFL scouting combine at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis on Feb. 24, 2026.

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"We’ll go back and look at it and get a fresh stack and just kind of see do we have enough players where we feel comfortable staying at 50, or does it look like it’s not enough and do we need to move back just to reach our cluster?" Holmes said. "We’ve already kind of gone through that process already before the draft started, but obviously you never know till you see who’s left."

The Lions moved up three spots in the second round of last year's draft, from No. 60 to No. 57, to take Georgia's Tate Ratledge, who started at right guard last season.

In 2023, the Lions took tight end Sam LaPorta with the second pick of the second round, then traded up three spots to No. 45 overall to take safety Brian Branch later in the round.