{"id":867682,"date":"2026-04-16T12:39:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:39:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/867682\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T12:39:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T12:39:23","slug":"nfl-draft-what-detroit-lions-could-acquire-in-a-1st-round-trade-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/867682\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL Draft: What Detroit Lions could acquire in a 1st-round trade down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">A few weeks ago, our own Ryan Mathews broke down <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prideofdetroit.com\/detroit-lions-analysis\/160775\/detroit-lions-trade-up-scenario-cost-nfl-draft-2026\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">what it would cost if the Detroit Lions were to trade up in the 2026 NFL Draft.<\/a> Now let\u2019s look at the other side of the coin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Lions may be more interested in trading down this year. Entering the draft without any picks between 51 and 117, trading down in the first round could be a relatively easy way for Detroit to regain a third-round pick and add another player who could contribute this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">So I looked at all the recent first-round trades that happened somewhat near Detroit\u2019s current 17th overall pick to see what the team could fetch if they opt to move down. Those are split into three categories: minor trade downs, medium trade downs, and massive trade downs.<\/p>\n<p>Minor trade downs (1-4 spots)<\/p>\n<p>2023: Patriots trade down from 14 to 17<\/p>\n<p>17th overall pickFourth-round pick (120 overall)<\/p>\n<p>2022: Ravens trade down from 23 to 25<\/p>\n<p>25th overallFourth-round pick (130 overall)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Looking at a couple of slight trade-downs from the last three drafts, it\u2019s clear that if the Lions wanted to move down to somewhere around 20th in the draft, they could add a fourth-round pick, giving them a third selection in that round.<\/p>\n<p>Medium trade downs (5-8 spots)<\/p>\n<p>2024: Jaguars trade down from 17 to 23<\/p>\n<p>23rd overall pickfifth-round pick (167 overall)2025 third-round pick2025 fourth-round pick<\/p>\n<p>2024: Cowboys trade down from 24 to 29<\/p>\n<p>29th overall pickThird-round pick (73 overall)24th overall pick2025 seventh-round pick<\/p>\n<p>2022: Commanders trade down from 11 to 16<\/p>\n<p>16th overall pickThird-round pick (98)Fourth-round pick (120)<\/p>\n<p>2022: Patriots trade down from 21 to 29<\/p>\n<p>29th overall pickThird-round pick (94th overall)Fourth-round pick (121)<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">There is a wealth of examples of medium-sized trades, but the value of those trades is a bit all over the place. The Jaguars got a bounty for trading back from 17 to 23, but two of those picks were in future years\u2014only netting a fifth-round pick in that year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The more common medium trade-downs have resulted in an extra third-round pick or a third and fourth-round pick. <\/p>\n<p>Massive trade downs (9+ spots)<\/p>\n<p>2022: Vikings make massive trade down from 12 to 32<\/p>\n<p>32nd overall pickSecond-round pick (34th overall)Third-round pick (66th overall)12th overall pickSecond-round pick (46th overall)<\/p>\n<p>2021: Vikings trade down from 14 to 23<\/p>\n<p>23rd overall pickThird-round pick (66)Third-round pick (86)14th overall pickFourth-round pick (143)<\/p>\n<p>2021: Giants trade down from 11 to 20<\/p>\n<p>20th overall pickFifth-round pick (164)2022 first-round pick2022 fourth-round pick<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Note on this trade: This was the Bears trading up to grab Justin Fields, so they may have overpaid to get their \u201cfranchise\u201d quarterback. <\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Lions fans will be familiar with the first example\u2014their massive trade up to get Jameson Williams. Oddly, that only resulted in an upgraded second-round pick and an extra third-round pick for the Vikings. That still looks like terrible value four years later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The other two examples are far more conservative trade-downs\u2014nine spots instead of 20\u2014, but the returns are inconsistent. The Vikings got a third and upgraded a fourth to a third in 2021, but the Giants got a massive haul in their nine-spot trade down. While they only picked up a fifth-round pick in that year\u2019s draft, they added a future first-round pick and a fourth-round pick. But as noted below the trade, this was the Bears trading up for a quarterback (Fields), so they may have overpaid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">This history of massive trade-ups isn\u2019t sufficient to draw any strong conclusions about what the Lions could acquire if they traded down to 26 or lower. A massive trade down could result in anything from a future first-round pick to a pair of third-round picks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A few weeks ago, our own Ryan Mathews broke down what it would cost if the Detroit Lions&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":867683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[449,448,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-867682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-detroit-lions-analysis","9":"tag-detroit-lions-draft","10":"tag-football"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116414432692796612","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867682","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=867682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}