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The Detroit Lions are known for making interesting trades during the NFL draft, and they could do it again for a budding quarterback.<\/p>\n
The Detroit Lions<\/a> are coming up on the 2026 NFL draft, and while nobody knows quite what will happen, we do know that whatever it is will draw some controversy, because general manager Brad Holmes<\/a> likes to shake things up during the event.<\/p>\n It\u2019s widely believed that the Lions may get a backup quarterback for Jared Goff<\/a> in the draft, but why start from scratch when you can get a young quarterback who already has experience in the NFL<\/a>? That\u2019s the idea behind a mock trade idea from Mike Payton of A to Z Sports, who thinks the Detroit Lions should work out a blockbuster trade during the 2026 NFL draft, which is set for April 23 to 25 in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n Trade Idea Gets Detroit Lions the Franchise\u2019s \u2018Quarterback of the Future\u2019 in the 2026 NFL Draft<\/p>\n In a Monday, April 13 feature for A to Z Sports<\/a>, Payton notes that Holmes and the Detroit Lions are known for making a splash and getting \u201caggressive\u201d when it comes to trades during the NFL draft.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen Holmes do all kinds of crazy trades to go get the players that he wants,\u201d he states in the piece. \u201cSo you have to think that maybe there could be blockbuster trades this year that involve the Lions.\u201d<\/p>\n This year, Payton likes the idea of \u201cgetting the quarterback of the future\u201d from the Colts<\/a> in Anthony Richardson Sr. His idea is that the Lions get Richardson and the Colts get a 181st pick. Honestly, that\u2019s a sweet deal for the Lions, and I would be surprised to see the Colts go along with that deal, but Payton likes the idea.<\/p>\n \u201cI still believe that the Lions are the best landing spot for Anthony Richardson, and since I believe they might draft a quarterback anyway, here\u2019s a chance to get a guy who is still just 23-years-old and have him sit under the learning tree of a bunch of former NFL quarterbacks and quarterback coaches on your staff,\u201d Payton says in the feature<\/a>.<\/p>\n Plenty of teams are interested in Richardson, though, including the Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>. In a feature for SI<\/a>, Mark Morales-Smith has him going to the Terrible Towel crew.<\/p>\n \u201cRichardson would get a fresh start in Pittsburgh, where he can sit behind Rodgers and learn for a season,\u201d he states in the feature. \u201cThe Steelers have a winning culture and a Super Bowl-winning head coach. It could do wonders for his career and potentially earn him the starting job in the future. He is still just 23 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n Is Anthony Richardson the Right Fit for the Detroit Lions?<\/p>\n Even though the Detroit Lions have signed<\/a> Teddy Bridgewater to be a backup quarterback to Goff, he\u2019s been in and out of the NFL for years, and if Goff were to go down, God forbid, it would be a nervous experience to have to rely on Bridgewater.<\/p>\n So, the Detroit Lions would be wise to get another solid backup for Goff, and Richardson would be it. Plus, at just 23 years old, it\u2019s possible that when Goff eventually steps down, he could take over as franchise quarterback. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but it\u2019s something to think about.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAnne Erickson<\/a> is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lions\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty The Detroit Lions are known for making interesting trades during the NFL draft, and they could do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":865723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2071],"tags":[146,113,2506,7,147,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-865722","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-detroit-lions","8":"tag-detroit","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-detroitlions","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-lions","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116399298755524098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}