NFL Draft rumors: Detroit Lions ‘aggressively’ trying to trade down in 1st round

Last week, Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn said the Lions were open for business in regards to trading down in the first round. You can never trust a general manager this late in the draft process, but now there appears to be some fire behind that smoke.

According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, the Lions are one of two teams that are expected to aggressively try to trade out of their first-round pick.

“I’m told that two teams will be aggressively looking to deal down in the first round: the Lions and Seahawks,” Breer said.

There’s one problem, though. The general consensus is that the value in this draft is toward the end of the first round or the second round, according to Breer.

“There’s not much difference, as most teams see it, between the No. 10 and No. 15 picks,” Breer said. “I had one team tell me over the weekend that the second round, based on grades, and depending on where the quarterbacks go, starts for them around the No. 12 or 13 pick.”

That nearly matches exactly what Quinn said about his evaluation of the draft on Ian Rapoport’s podcast last week.

“The depth in this draft is really—from the late first to the third—there’s a lot of really good players in there,” Quinn said.

So it would make logical sense for Detroit to try and get as many possible picks in that window. They currently only have two or three—their third-round pick doesn’t come until pick 25 in that round.

And while there will be plenty of teams trying to trade down, the steep drop-off in talent could theoretically make Detroit’s eighth overall pick more valuable. If everyone from the mid-first round to the second and even third round are close to even in talent, Detroit’s top-10 pick is a rare opportunity to grab an elite talent.

The Lions will have to decide whether it’s worth it to take a shot at that player or add more draft capital in the meat of the draft.