{"id":895534,"date":"2026-05-19T14:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/895534\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T14:06:21","slug":"detroit-lions-nearly-pulled-off-2-nfl-draft-day-trades-with-ravens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/895534\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lions nearly pulled off 2 NFL draft-day trades with Ravens"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brad Holmes \u201cstrongly\u201d considered moving up in the NFL draft before selecting Blake Miller<\/a> with the 17th overall pick, and one of the deals the Detroit Lions<\/a> general manager had in place but chose not to execute was with the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In their behind-the-scenes draft video<\/a> released Monday, May 18, the Ravens are shown exploring two trade-downs with the Lions<\/a>, including one in the first round.<\/p>\n

\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Detroit Lions first round draft Blake Miller, center, poses for a photo with his father Chris Miller, left, and mother Karen Miller at his introductory press conference at Meijer Performance Center in Allen Park on Friday, April 24, 2026.<\/p>\n

Around the 24-minute mark of the video, during the string of picks that came off the board in front of them \u2013 Caleb Downs to the Dallas Cowboys at No. 11, Kadyn Proctor to the Miami Dolphins<\/a> at No. 12 and Ty Simpson to the Los Angeles Rams<\/a> at No. 13 \u2013 general manager Eric DeCosta tells his draft room, \u201cWe have a trade offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeCosta never mentions the Lions by name, but Ravens vice president of football administration Nick Matteo explains the deal: The Ravens\u2019 pick at No. 14, for Picks No. 17 and 118 \u2013 the Lions\u2019 first- and fourth-round choices \u2013 and a third-round pick in the 2027 draft.<\/p>\n

Moments later, after the Rams made Simpson the surprise pick of the first round, Matteo phones an unnamed Lions executive and asks, \u201cWould you do your original offer, 14 for 17, 118 and next year\u2019s three?\u201d<\/p>\n

With a couple minutes left on the clock, the Lions appeared to think better of the trade.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re out?\u201d Matteo repeats into the phone. \u201cAll right, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Ravens took Penn State guard Vega Ioane with the 14th pick, and after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers followed with defensive end Reuben Bain Jr. and the New York Jets took tight end Kenyon Sadiq, the Lions took Miller at No. 17 to be their right tackle of the future.<\/a><\/p>\n

Holmes said after the draft he talked to teams about moving \u201cway up\u201d but decided to stay put after the Rams\u2019 selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe definitely explored strongly about trading up and just kind of seeing how it started to fall,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cProbably about … right after L.A. took the quarterback, I felt pretty good that we might be able to just get Blake. Because the other thing is that there\u2019s just a little scare of, OK, I felt like from the outside looking in we had this big tackle target on our back, so if a team behind us was in the tackle market, then they might want to jump us, as well. So we definitely explored that. But right about 14, I felt pretty good that we\u2019d be able to keep our assets and still get Blake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller was the fourth offensive tackle and fifth offensive lineman taken, and two other tackles went in the next four picks.<\/p>\n

Holmes did pull off a second-round trade<\/a>, sending the Lions\u2019 second fourth-round pick, No. 128 overall, to the New York Jets to move up six spots and take Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore at No. 44.<\/p>\n

In the New York Giants\u2019 behind-the-scenes draft video, general manager Joe Schoen rebuffed the Lions\u2019 offer of both fourth-round picks and a fifth-round choice to move down from No. 37 to No. 50.<\/p>\n

Matteo also shared a text with a second-round offer from the Lions: The Ravens\u2019 pick at No. 45 for the Lions\u2019 Picks No. 50 and 128 \u201cif their guy is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the Lions made the same deal with the Jets, DeCosta worried they were moving up for Missouri defensive end Zion Young \u2013 whom Baltimore took with its pick at 45.<\/p>\n

Holmes said after the draft Moore was the Lions\u2019 top available edge rusher entering Day 2 and the last player left in the cluster of players they had atop the board at the start of the round.<\/p>\n

Asked if he felt the need to trade up in front of the Ravens because he worried they would take Moore, Holmes said, \u201cI don\u2019t know if they wanted him or not, but kind of got a sense that they were in the edge rusher market, though.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dave Birkett covers the Lions for the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at\u00a0dbirkett@freepress.com<\/a>. Follow him on\u00a0Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0at @davebirkett.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions nearly pulled off 2 NFL draft-day trades with Ravens<\/a><\/p>\n