Detroit Pistons crowd gives Lions coach Dan Campbell standing ovation
The crowd at Little Caesars Arena went nuts seeing Detroit Lions head coach Dan Campbell on the jumbotron on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at Game 4 of the Detroit Pistons vs. New York Knicks game.
Brad Holmes made three trades in last week’s NFL draft, and tried to make a whole bunch more.
The Detroit Lions general manager said in an interview on WXYT-FM that he attempted to make “about 30” trades on Day 2 of the draft, when he executed trade-ups for LSU guard Tate Ratledge in Round 2 and Arkansas receiver Isaac TeSlaa in Round 3.
“On Day 2, we made two trade-ups,” Holmes on the Costa & Jansen with Heather Show. “Guys, those were two done out of about 30 attempts. That just happened to be the two that we were able to do.
“But it’s so many other different attempts and it’s hard to sometimes find a partner because teams just don’t want to go that far down … Just like what I was talking about earlier, the further you go down then the talent pool and the depth on that specific team’s board is going to drop as well, so you have to have peace with that.”
The Lions traded up three spots to take Ratledge at Pick No. 57, sending the No. 60 pick in the second round and a fourth-round choice to the Denver Broncos for No. 57 and a seventh-rounder.
In Round 3, they traded up 32 spots to take TeSlaa at Pick No. 70, giving the Jacksonville Jaguars Pick No. 102 and two third-round choices in 2026.
While some have criticized Holmes for overpaying for TeSlaa, a toolsy receiver from Hudsonville who started his college career at Hillsdale and had limited production at Arkansas, Holmes said TeSlaa was “my favorite wide receiver in this draft.”
“I’m not saying he was the best wide receiver in the draft, but favorite wide receiver in the draft, yes,” Holmes said in his radio interview.
The Lions took Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in the first round at Pick No. 28 and missed out the run of top edge rushers in what was considered a deep draft at the position.
Abdul Carter (No. 3), Mykel Williams (No. 11), Jalon Walker (No. 15), Shemar Stewart (No. 17) and James Pearce (No. 26) were taken before the Lions’ first-round pick, four more edge rushers were drafted before the Lions traded up Ratledge, and Marshall’s Mike Green and Louisville’s Ashton Gillotte went in the 12 picks between the Ratledge and TeSlaa selections.
In Round 6, the Lions filled their need at defensive end by taking developmental prospect Ahmed Hassanein of Boise State.
Holmes said this year’s draft and the previous two drafts were not as deep as his first draft as Lions GM in 2021, when he landed front-line starters who’ve received massive contract extensions Alim McNeill and Amon-Ra St. Brown in the third and fourth rounds, respectively.
He said he considered dealing away a future second-round pick in a trade-up, though it was not clear if he was referencing in this or a previous year’s drafts. And he indicated the TeSlaa deal was done in part because the Lions were running out of players they considered future starters on their draft board.
“Yeah, we loved the player, but when you start looking at, ‘OK, we’re at 102 and you have this player’ − and take away the player, the specific player, it’s just a player graded at a certain level, maybe it’s only two or three of those guys left on the entire board,” he said. “You’re sitting down there at 102 and you look up and it’s like, ‘OK, we love this player but also there’s probably about eight teams that still are looking for a wide receiver.’
“So we’re sitting there at 102, ‘OK, if we stay here, we’re going to be dealing with a different level of player based on our board. Not on the 31 other boards but based on our board. So you take all that into account.”
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, “Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline.” Order your copy here.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.