Lions' bold move in the 2025 NFL Draft almost didn't get done in time

During his appearance on 97.1 The Ticket's "Costa and Jansen" Tuesday morning, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes said he tried to make 30 trades during the 2025 NFL Draft. Two came to fruition, including a bold move to go from pick No. 102 to pick No. 70 to get Arkansas wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa.

The Lions gave up both of their 2026 third-round picks to make that move up for TeSlaa. Holmes called TeSlaa his favorite wide receiver in this year's class, while acknowledging it was easily Detroit's most questionable pick in the draft. Not that Holmes cares about such criticisms.

"The pick that was probably the most questioned, I would say, was Isaac TeSlaa. I can say that he was my favorite wide receiver in this draft," Holmes said to "Costa and Jansen" on Tuesday. "I’m not saying he was the best wide receiver in the draft, but favorite wide receiver in the draft, yes."

Draft trades are not easy to execute, as evidenced by Holmes admitted hit rate (2-for-30) this year. Teams who are "on the clock" are often fielding multiple trade calls, while also deciding if they'll just stay put and who they'll select if they do. The "war room" is a frantic place that is rarely fully captured.

Lions' bold trade for Isaac TeSlaa almost didn't happen

Michael Silver of The Athletic was inside the Jacksonville Jaguars' draft room under first-year general manager James Gladstone over the weekend, with unparalleled access and little-to-nothing seemingly off-limits to eventually publish in his long-form piece. The Jaguars originally had pick No. 70, so......

"Shortly after the third round began, another potential option surfaced: The Detroit Lions called, floating a possible trade that would send their third-round pick (No. 102) and a pair of 2026 third-rounders to the Jags for the 70th selection, a fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-rounder. The Lions still weren’t sure they wanted to do the deal, but they were laying groundwork."

“Two extra threes are pretty tempting,” (Jaguars president of football analytics Jake) Temme said."

Then the drama ramped up.

"A few seconds later, Gladstone got an offer from the Rams: their second-round pick next year for the 70th selection."

The Jaguars were apparently targeting Louisville edge rusher Ashton Gillotte (who would have been a nice fit for the Lions, by the way), but he went at pick No. 66 to the Kansas City City Chiefs. The Rams also wanted Gillotte, so they pulled their trade offer when he was no longer available.

The Jaguars decided to take the Lions' trade offer, but...

"Then things got dicey. (Jaguars director of player finance Trip) MacCracken nailed down the trade with (Lions COO Mike) Disner and both contacted the assigned NFL representative to make the terms official. However, a communications issue with the league slowed down the process."

With the protocol where a team calls the player they're drafting in play, Holmes got involved.

"With 90 seconds on the clock, Holmes called Gladstone. "Hey,” Holmes asked, “are we gonna be able to make this deal, or what?”

The deal got done and the Lions selected TeSlaa, who was clearly one of "their guys" in this year's draft, with "seconds to spare" according to Silver.