Lions Have Taken Calls to Trade Down in 2022 NFL Draft
The Detroit Lions currently sit with the enviable position of holding the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
At the owners meeting, Lions general manager Brad Holmes told a group of reporters the team has already fielded calls from a couple NFL teams inquiring about trading up to the No. 2 spot.
Nothing serious in terms of offers have been made, but talks are certainly underway.
"I would say right now it's still relatively early for those discussions, but I would expect for it to heat up, especially with the pick that we have this year," Holmes expressed. "Because it definitely heated up, even with us at seven last year. So, I expect to have more dialogue."
Securing additional draft capital would be in Detroit's best interest, as the team is currently in the second year of a multi-year rebuild.
Holmes expressed further that the team is willing to make a trade official before the start of the draft.
"I think definitely we could pull that trade off, if the other team is willing, before the draft," Holmes said.
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Vote of confidence for quarterback Jared Goff
While he would not reveal if the team was targeting a quarterback at No. 2, Detroit's general manager, who was also instrumental in bringing Goff to the Los Angeles Rams, gave the veteran quarterback a vote of confidence.
“We have a lot of optimism about Jared going forward. We have a quarterback," Holmes said. "We have a starter that can be productive for us. Jared is our quarterback, and we’re going to make sure he’s put in the best position to succeed.”
At the end of the season, Holmes acknowledged why the team views the 27-year-old quarterback so highly.
“Jared, I can’t say enough about his resiliency, and I’ve been talking about it at length. You guys have heard me talk about it all of the time about just the mental toughness and the physical toughness and his resiliency. You talk about will, you talk about grit. That’s why he fit from the very get-go," Holmes explained.
Holmes added, "The success he had late, it all came from that, because he had some rough patches. He had some adversity that he had to fight through. I give him all of the credit in the world that he stayed the course and some tweaks were made, some changes were made. Let’s call it a reinforcement, some players emerged. But, he played really good football. It wasn’t a surprise that he played good football, because I guess my history with him. I’ve seen him play some of his best football, so that wasn’t a surprise. But, I was more proud of -- he showed that resiliency and mental toughness to push through and he played good football in the last half of the season.”
