With so much talent falling in the first round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Detroit Lions had plenty of options to choose from with how they used their first-round pick. They ultimately decided to bolster their offensive line by selecting Iowa's Riley Reiff, but the decision to take him came only after the Lions had tried to move around.
Mayhew: "We tried to go up. At one point we tried to move back." #Lions
— Brad Galli (@BradGalli) April 27, 2012
The general consensus going into the draft was that if the Lions wanted Dre Kirkpatrick, they needed to try and trade up. That turned out to be accurate considering the Cincinnati Bengals selected Kirkpatrick with the 17th overall pick, and based on Mayhew's comment, it seems like they did attempt to make a move up for him. It just didn't come together.
As we heard earlier in the day, the Lions were open to trading down if the right deal came along. Obviously, it never did, and with a guy like Reiff on the board, the Lions decided the better option was to take him and call it a night.
Reminder: You can follow Pride of Detroit on Twitter and like us on Facebook.