After the Detroit Lions drafted Clemson offensive tackle Blake Miller with their first-round pick, general manager Brad Holmes said with a big grin on his face that the team attempted to trade up in the first round, but ultimately decided against it.
“We did, yeah,” Holmes said. “Look, we talked to teams up—way up—and we just kinda talk about and try to see if we can be at peace with what the capital is that you’d have to expend. But, yeah, we definitely explored strongly about trading up.
“Just kinda seeing how it started to fall, probably about when we got to about right after LA (Rams) took the quarterback, I felt pretty good that we might be able to just get Blake.”
That is the Lions’ side of the story. Now we have at least one other side of the story—quite possibly two.
The first comes from the aforementioned Los Angeles Rams. According to The Athletic’s (and former Lions beat writer) Nate Atkins, the Rams were one of the teams the Lions called regarding a trade up. Los Angeles, who shocked most by taking Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson, were apparently not blown away enough by Detroit’s offer to accept it.
“The Detroit Lions had interest in moving up, a team source said,” Atkins wrote, “but the return didn’t excite in a draft that thinned out considerably by Day 3 due to so many college players returning for name, image and likeness compensation.”
“With three enticing options, DeCosta was willing to trade back — and he thought he had a deal worked out with a team (which he declined to name) that would keep the Ravens picking in the teens and allow them to pick up extra fourth-round picks in each of the next two drafts. Once on the clock, however, the trade fell through. This time, it was not DeCosta’s doing. “We had something on the table, but inexplicably they told us they’d changed their mind,” he said Friday morning. “They changed the deal (and made another offer that wasn’t as good), and we passed.”“
Now, DeCosta didn’t reveal the team, but let’s put some pieces together, because it feels quite likely he’s talking about the Lions.
First, he mentions this team would have kept them in the teens. That fits because the Ravens would have moved down from 14 to 17 in a trade with Detroit. Additionally, he mentions the compensation of an extra fourth-round pick in the next two drafts. That’s certainly notable because the Lions didn’t have any third-round picks to trade this year.
However, the most compelling argument is the trade falling through. Why would an agreed-upon trade fall through at the last minute? Well, look who picked right before the Ravens: the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams made the shocking pick of Simpson, and it’s quite possible that caught the Lions off-guard as much as it did everyone else. And, as Holmes’ openly admitted, once the Rams made their pick, Detroit no longer had an interest in a trade up, knowing that Miller—or another talented player—was much more likely to land at 17.
So it’s entirely possible that Holmes’ ex-colleague, Rams general manager Les Snead, unintentionally did him a favor—making a selection that ultimately may have prevented Holmes from spending additional draft capital on a player he was able to draft anyways.
