Trades are commonplace throughout the NFL draft. Picks get dealt all the time. But what if Lions GM Bob Quinn executed a trade involving a pick for a more proven player?
It is certainly possible in the unprecedented circumstances of the 2020 NFL Draft. Three players who can provide instant, veteran help to the Lions are reportedly on the trading block. Quinn needs to at least explore the possibility of acquiring each of them.
All three have been freshly rumored to be available, though the veracity of their reported availability is unknown. None should be worth more to the Lions than their pick at the top of the 4th round, No. 109 overall.
Kenny Stills, WR, Texans
It’s hard to explain what is going on with the Houston Texans as led by GM/head coach Bill O’Brien. After dealing away arguably the NFL’s best receiver, DeAndre Hopkins, for relative peanuts, the Texans then brought in high risk/reward wideout Brandin Cooks.
Their WR room is crowded with Cooks, Will Fuller, recently signed Randall Cobb and Keke Coutee. Stills, who turns 28 this week, is rumored to be the odd man out. If he is, he’s the kind of receiver the Lions can use to bolster the corps.
Stills caught 40 passes for 561 yards and four TDs in his first season in Houston, primarily playing as the No. 3 WR option behind Hopkins and Fuller. His appeal to the Lions would be how well he works in the middle of the field on both short and intermediate routes, but also works quite well in tandem with his WR mates.
He’s in the last year of his contract and is due $7 million in 2020. Given the Texans’ recent trades, it’s darn near impossible to even attempt to discern what they might want in return, but Quinn should at least call his old New England cohort, O’Brien.