One of the pre-draft points of discussion was if the Detroit Lions would consider moving up from No. 2 to No. 1 to ensure they land the player of their choosing. Lions GM Brad Holmes put a quick end to that speculation in his press conference following Thursday night’s first round.
“I never really thought of moving up,” Holmes said. “That just never — I thought about it passing by me but we were kind of good sitting at two. Obviously had no idea if Aidan (Hutchinson) was going to be there or not.”
Earlier in his presser, Holmes indicated the Lions had several players ranked the same, with Michigan’s Hutchinson being one of those players. His response to the question about possibly moving up makes it clear the Lions were not going to be distraught if the Jaguars took Hutchinson at No. 1.
Interestingly, Holmes noted that the Lions included Jameson Williams in the cluster of equally graded players at the top of their board. The Lions traded three picks (32, 34, 66) to the Minnesota Vikings to move up to No. 12 and select the Alabama wide receiver. Detroit also received the Vikings’ second-round pick at No. 46 in the trade.
“Obviously we had all those guys graded evenly and (Hutchinson) was one of them,” Holmes said. “And obviously Jameson was one of them as well.”