The first round of last year’s NFL draft was nearing its end and Brad Holmes was getting antsy.
One of the players the Detroit Lions ranked highly on their draft board, Washington defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike, was still available, and Holmes wanted to trade up to get him.
He called around to gauge the asking price, found no takers on a deal, and breathed a big sigh of relief when the round ended and Onwuzurike was still on the board.
Holmes resumed his pursuit of a trade up Friday, when the Lions had the ninth pick in the second round. He reached out to teams in front of him while heeding the advice of the senior advisors in his draft room: Be patient, don’t overpay and trust your board.
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The Jacksonville Jaguars started Day 2 by drafting a defensive back, the New York Jets followed with a wide receiver and seven picks later, Onwuzurike fell in Holmes’ lap.
“We made a few attempts to get him, but sometimes the draft gods smile on you a little bit and bless you with what you were wanting,” Holmes said on Day 2 of the draft last year. “And all those guys in the room just kept stressing to stay patient. It was a great suggestion, but we were all kind of sweating bullets a little bit but the patience paid off.”
As he prepares for his second NFL draft as Lions general manager, Holmes said having patience was one of the key lessons he learned from last year’s draft, when the Lions made seven picks, pulled off one Day 3 trade by dealing a 2022 pick to move up for linebacker Derrick Barnes, and ended up with what appears to be an above average class.
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First-round pick Penei Sewell had a standout rookie season while splitting his time between both tackle spots. Fourth-round choice Amon-Ra St. Brown led the Lions in receptions and receiving yards and looks like a draft day steal. Third-round lineman Alim McNeill was one of the team’s best run defenders. And Onwuzurike and Barnes had uneven rookie seasons, but the organization remains hopeful about their futures.
“That was a lesson to be patient,” Holmes said last week. “Probably one of the other things that I learned is knowing the whole market in terms of every single position, knowing the free agency market, how the free agency market went, looking through the free agency market and heading into the draft and kind of having that foresight and kind of thinking what’s going to happen.
“I think that’s probably one of the biggest lessons I learned where you look at, ‘OK, what (happens in free agency at one position affects) the draft market.’ So all of that, and I’ve always known that but to live through that last year and just to carry that knowledge and experience into this year has been helpful.”
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The Lions have eight picks in this year’s draft, including five of the first 100 selections. They pick second and 32nd in Round 1, have the second pick on Day 2 and could be in a prime position to strike deals.
While few trades are expected at the top of this year’s draft with no elite prospects to be had, late first-round picks have historically been enticing to teams looking to trade up.
In the past four drafts, five trades have been made involving picks 30-32 at the end of Round 1. The Baltimore Ravens traded up to take quarterback Lamar Jackson with the 32nd pick in 2018. The New York Giants (to pick No. 30) and Atlanta Falcons (No. 31) made moves up in 2019. The Miami Dolphins moved down to pick No. 30 in 2020, when the Green Bay Packers went up four spots to draft quarterback Jordan Love. And last year, the Kansas City Chiefs acquired starting left tackle Orlando Brown for a package of picks including No. 31 overall.
Late first-round picks have added value because they give teams an extra year of control over players. Drafted players sign slotted four-year contracts as part of the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement, but teams get a fifth-year option on first-round choices.
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Holmes said that dynamic is especially meaningful for teams looking to draft quarterbacks because “you assume how long you think that it will take to develop a quarterback and when he’ll be available to help you,” but you don’t know for sure.
Five quarterbacks — Malik Willis of Liberty, Kenny Pickett of Pitt, Matt Corral of Ole Miss, Sam Howell of North Carolina and Desmond Ridder of Cincinnati — are potential top-40 picks this year.
The Lions are unlikely to trade up from No. 2, but Holmes said his general philosophy when it comes to make draft day moves is to be selectively aggressive, an approach that might come into play this week.
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“I’ll probably sum it up like this,” he said. “If there’s a player that we have buy-in and that we want, I’m going to try to get that player. That’s just bottom line. So there is value in being patient and sitting back. You’ve just got to assess where the value is on your draft board and kind of what the volume and depth is. But if the conviction is that high, yeah, you can’t just sit, wait and be patient and just see if that player’s going to be there or not. Sometimes you’ve got to be aggressive and go and get him.
“There’s not a lot of those players throughout the draft always, but when that player is identified, I’ll always be aggressive.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.