Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes is open to trading the second overall pick in the draft, and one of those four teams could make him an offer he can’t refuse.
Back at the Senior Bowl in early February, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes made it clear that he was not married to retaining the No. 2 overall pick in the April draft. No general manager is ever going to shut the door on anything until absolutely impossible, but Holmes said “hey, call me” on Mobile.
At Tuesday’s NFL league meetings, Holmes said through MLive’s Kyle Meinke that he had taken several calls about the second overall pick in the draft.
“Yes, we’ve had discussions with a few teams,” general manager Brad Holmes told a small group of reporters Tuesday during a break at the NFL Owners Meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. “I wouldn’t say it’s a lot, but there were a couple of teams that we spoke to.”
Holmes will say nothing but what he said. Draft smoke season isn’t quite in effect for this year, but he won’t say no one called — even if they did. As Meinke noted, Holmes said the same thing about catching trade calls a year ago when the Lions had seventh pick overall, and they were thrilled to get Penei Sewell. It probably would have taken heaven and earth to get Holmes to pull away from that selection in 2021.
As for waiting until draft night to make a deal with the No. 2 and maybe see who the Jaguars take No. 1 overall, Holmes said he wouldn’t necessarily do that.
“Definitely we could go through with that compromise before the draft if the other team is willing to do that,” Holmes said.
Rising to #2 overall is a dazzling idea, and too rich an idea for many teams even if they want to. But what teams might be ready for that?
Will there be an offer Holmes can’t refuse? An offer along those lines to force a relegation for the Lions still seems more unlikely than likely, but if this NFL offseason has proven anything, then nothing is out of the question and deals could look bad for an ending immediately after.
Note: For hypothetical trades, I used Jimmy Johnson’s classic draft pick trade value chart as a reference point.