Why the Lions Should Stay Still in the Draft

There has been many rumors linking the Detroit Lions to trading up from their spot at the 23rd overall pick in order to draft Alabama cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick or South Carolina cornerback Stephon Gilmore. Many fans are all for it because the Lions need at corner thanks to the performance in the final regular season game against Green Bay and the playoff game against New Orleans.  However, that would not be a good move at all for the Lions.

The Lions own the 23rd, 54th and 85th overall pick in the first two rounds, and trading up to the 16th overall pick or the 20th overall pick could give up those picks, which still hold value.  The Lions have used late round picks to find solid football players since Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz took over the organization, finding guys like LB Deandre Levy and Amari Spievey (3rd round), DT Sammie Hill (4th round), LB Dogue Hogue (5th round), and DE Willie Young (7th round).

The Lions do need help at the cornerback position, but they have also said they would not reach on a player just to fill a need.  Trading up to get Gilmore or Kirkpatrick would fill the definition of a reach because the team would not only be investing a first round pick on one of those players, but they would also invest at least a third, a fourth, and a seventh round pick to trade up to get them. Using four draft picks that could be used to continue building depth on the roster.

Alabama CB Dre Kirkpatrick could be tantalizing
for the Lions to trade up for, but it might cost the Lions too much

Detroit attempted to trade up with the Arizona Cardinals from the 13th overall pick to the 5th overall pick to select LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson. The Cardinals refused the trade offer and decided to take Peterson themselves. The Lions organization would say they are happy the trade was unsuccessful, because it allowed them to select top prospect Nick Fairley 13th overall, which was completely unexpected he would fall that far. Another fact to point out about this failed trade, the Lions were reportedly going to send their second round choice to the desert as well, meaning the Lions would not have had a chance to select wide receiver Titus Young, who had an outstanding rookie year and has great upside.

Looking further down in last year's draft, the Lions did trade up back into the second round to select running back Mikel Leshoure, sending a third, fourth and seventh round pick to the Seattle Seahawks. Much has been criticized about that trade because Leshoure tore his Achilles Tendon last preseason and had the recent arrest for marijuana possession just last month. The Seahawks used the third round pick from the Lions to select guard John Moffit out of Wisconsin, who started immediately in Seattle and helped create one of the league's most potent rushing offenses. Guard is now one of the needs for the Lions with a poor running game, and if they allowed the cards to fall, the running game could be much better with a selection of Moffit, or Leshoure could have even dropped down to the Lions such as Fairley did.

The Lions need this draft. There has been no offseason in finding players to fill positions of need. Granted, this offseason has been dedicated to resigning the good players that are already on the roster such as Calvin Johnson and Stephen Tulloch, and they weren't completely inactive during free agency, signing cornerback Jacob Lacey from the Colts and defensive end Everette Brown from the Chargers, but the roles those players will bring won't have the impact like drafting a good left tackle for the future, or a good corner. Instead of trading up, losing multiple draft picks to select one player just to make it the team look a little better on paper, the Lions should stay still in the draft. With the heightened draft stock of corners like Gilmore and Central Florida's Josh Robinson, it might be a reach to desperately trade up to get those players when there are other needs on the roster. Left tackle is a need, and with the 22 other teams in front of the Lions having a chance to take all the top corners, that could mean Stanford left tackle Jonathan Martin could fall to the Lions at 23. In fact, if the team could trade, let it be trading down with the Green Bay Packers or Baltimore Ravens, gain a couple more draft picks, and select Ohio State tackle Mike Adams or Wisconsin center Peter Konz, who both would fill a need on the offensive line. The Lions are in no position to reach on a player because it is a need, and trading up makes the situation a potential reach.