How Far Are Lions Willing to Trade Down
The Detroit Lions will enter next week's NFL Draft -- Day 1 of the three-day draft kicks off Thursday, April 29 -- with a myriad of holes on both sides of the ball.
As of right now, the Lions will make their first of six total selections at No. 7 overall. But, that could change and rather quickly, depending on the offers fielded by Detroit first-year general manager Brad Holmes leading up to the draft.
There's been much speculation about the Lions trading out of the pick, and Holmes addressed that and the organization being open for business during his pre-draft media session Friday.
"Yes, there have been (trade) discussions with other teams,” Holmes said. “I will keep those in house, but yeah, there have been discussions.”
Detroit Lions
If Holmes & Co. don't hold on to the pick, the most likely scenario is that they trade down to accumulate additional draft capital. The rebuilding nature of the franchise plays a big part in this being the case.
As for how far the organization is willing to trade down, Holmes told reporters Friday that he doesn't have "a floor."
“I wouldn’t say there’s a floor. I think that that probably would be pigeonholing yourself or even -- I’m very, very leery of anchors, I would say. I try to avoid as many anchors as possible," Holmes said. "So, you always want to kind of go into it through having a sound process of doing all the work and kind of knowing, okay, if you did slide back here, then you’re looking at this subset of players potentially. And so, how do we feel about those players? If you moved up, might be looking at this player. So, I think that just goes back to the preparation period and not having to anchor yourself with a certain floor there.”
The Lions' biggest issues are on the defensive side of the ball. Last year, the team's anemic defense yielded franchise-worst marks in both total yards (6,716) and points (519) for a single season.
Every single area on defense could use an upgrade. And if the organization were to go with a defensive player with its first-round selection, it likely would draft Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons.
He's been a player frequently mocked to Detroit, and according to the latest projections, he could be had anywhere from pick No. 9 (presently held by the Denver Broncos) to pick No. 19 (currently owned by the Washington Football Team).
This makes Parsons a perfect trade-down target of Holmes & Co.
In fact, in NFL.com writer Chad Reuter's latest mock draft, he has the Broncos and Lions swapping first-round picks, with Denver getting Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields at No. 7 and Detroit grabbing Parsons at No. 9.
As Holmes conveyed, trading down is definitely a possibility. And, if the Detroit front office plays its cards right, such a trade could reap some huge benefits for the franchise moving forward.
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