The 2025 NFL Draft is a week away, and the Detroit Lions have seven picks right now. It's also fair to say they don't clear have seven clear-cut open spots on the 53-man roster right now, even with a clear "the best man will win" mandate when it comes to roles and roster spots.
For how much as he holds draft picks dear, general manager Brad Holmes is also not afraid to make moves around the board during the draft to move up and get players the Lions covet. If it makes sense, a move up in the first round from No. 28 overall is in play. Beyond that, Holmes has moved up on Day 2 of the draft to get someone (even if the jury is still out on those players from recent drafts).
The Lions could end up parting with a player if they want to move up in the draft, be it in the first round or otherwise. Taking someone at a certain position could push a trade of a player to the forefront as possible, or a pick that was parted with in a move up could be recouped by trading a player.
5 Detroit Lions players who could be traded during the 2025 NFL Draft
5. RB Craig Reynolds
Reynolds is a clear culture fit for the Lions, and he's a symbol for the "do whatever is necessary to help the team" mantra Dan Campbell professes. But when it comes down to it, Reynolds already minimal role offensively (96 snaps and 31 carries last season) is line to be threatened by second-year man Sione Vaki. Hs role as a core special teamer is not hard to replace, and Vaki was already better in that aspect of the game last season.
Reynolds has shown he is capable of being effective in a bigger offensive role, but the Lions haven't been able to offer him that in a few years. If another team failed to properly bolster their running back depth early in the draft, trading Reynolds on Day 3 could be on the table.
4. CB Amik Robertson
We have been adamantly against the idea of the Lions trading Robertson before the draft, despite multiple analysts trying to advance him as a trade candidate in that vein. There may be a time when it makes sense to trade him, but that time is not now.
That being said, if the Lions add another cornerback in the draft, and early in particular (as happened in a new mock draft from Dane Brugler of The Athletic), there will be more competition in the cornerback room.
Holmes, as many general managers would, likes to say "you can never have too many corners." But if Robertson's projected role takes an early draft hit, keeping him around would make less sense and whatever trade speculation there might be around him would hit a different note.
3. WR Jameson Williams
Let's hit this one head-on. In light of what Holmes broadly said about him in terms of a contract extension at the league meetings earlier this month, and a notable pre-draft visit with a wide receiver, Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports put himself in the crosshairs of the angry portion of Lions' fans by suggesting Williams could be traded during the draft. It was not a prediction, it was a "don't be shocked if....".
Some like to say the NFL salary cap is not real, but Payton outlined a harsh reality when it comes to the contract extensions the Lions have coming. Holmes is deferring to the cost of these as a reason to sit on his hands in terms of notable moves this offseason, or as the reason someone was released, but something (or someone) will eventually have to give.
Williams had a breakthrough in 2024, and some like to think more could be in store in 2025. That would put him in position to get a contract extension in the range of Amon-Ra St. Brown ($30 million per year). He also has some lingering maturity questions he has not yet answered, after a performance-enhancing substance suspension and a gun-related incident happening within weeks of each other last October.
If feels unlikely the Lions will trade "Jamo" during the draft, or at all before he potentially leaves as a free agent. But to brush it aside as impossible is foolish.
2. DE Josh Paschal
Three years into using a top-50 overall pick one someone, you'd hope to have more than five sacks and less than 15 missed games from them. That's what Paschal has done since being taken 46th overall by the Lions in the 2022 draft. Being credited with 34 quarterback pressures last season looks adequate, but his pass rush win rate (5.5 percent, according to Pro Football Focus) was outside the top-100 among qualified edge rushers.
Injuries were not a big factor for Paschal in 2024. Two of his three missed games came after a relatively minor discovery during the annual screening he has after his bout with cancer in college. He simply did not stand out in any capacity, as PFF's No. 106-graded edge rusher (out of 119 qualifiers, including the playoffs).
As much as one Lions' edge rusher is firmly on the hot seat heading into the draft, as he should be, Paschal might be outright supplanted from an already tenuous spot on the depth chart by an expected draft pick. If another team thinks it has the answer to coax his full potential out of him and a trade offer comes, the Lions have to listen.
1. QB Hendon Hooker
For months, the Lions' actions have not matched their words regarding Hooker. The straw that broke that camel's back was bringing back Teddy Bridgewater late last season, off the street after he had coached his high school alma mater to a state title, then making him the No. 2 quarterback over Hooker for the playoff game against the Washington Commanders. Bridgewater's experience edge over Hooker, that Dan Campbell specifically noted at the time of his signing, is one career playoff start and standing on the sideline for a few other playoff games.
The harsh and often repeated reality with Hooker is this. He's 27 years old, he's halfway through his rookie contract and he has no path to starting in Detroit with Jared Goff under contract through 2028. He'd be a solid tradeable asset, if the Lions hadn't spent the aforementioned months crushing his value.
As John Maakaron and Christian Booher of SI.com brought up below, as they honed in on a player the Lions could trade during the draft, the New Orleans Saints are a potential new trade suitor for Hooker and in a broad sense developmental quarterbacks have appeal to teams.
Hooker stands above everyone else on this list by some margin. The Lions should be open to moving on from a questionable third-round draft pick that is trending toward being confirmed as a mistake, assuming they have a plan to replace him as their developmental quarterback.
