Lions tried to trade down in first round with Bills

Going into the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft, there were plenty of rumors about the Detroit Lions trying to move the No. 5 overall pick. Some of the rumors suggested the Lions wanted to move up from No. 5, while others suggested they wanted to trade down and pick up extra selections.

In the end, the Lions stayed at No. 5 and drafted BYU defensive end Ezekiel Ansah. They did try to move down before making the pick, though. According to Buffalo Bills general manager Buddy Nix, his team received an offer from the Lions to move up to the No. 5 overall pick, but he didn't have any interest in a deal like that. From the Bills' official site:

"Not at all," Nix told Buffalobills.com. "You’ve got to give up too much to move up. We had guys that we thought would be there and had our favorite there so we weren’t interested in moving up."

The Bills actually ended up trading the No. 8 overall pick to the St. Louis Rams, which took West Virginia wide receiver Tavon Austin. The Bills got Florida State quarterback E.J. Manuel at No. 16, so it's no surprise they opted to trade down rather than up. I suppose there's no harm in the Lions asking, though.

Had the Lions been able to pull off a deal with Buffalo, they probably still would have been able to pick Ansah at No. 8. Barkevious Mingo and Jonathan Cooper were the next two picks, and I don't think they would have been different had Ansah still been available. The Lions also could have potentially moved down again if they really wanted to stockpile picks with the Rams trying to move up to get Austin.