Heading into the 2025 NFL draft, the Detroit Lions held seven selections, including a compensatory pick in third round, a sixth-round pick from a prior trade with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a seventh-round pick from the Dallas Cowboys.
Throughout the three-day event, the Lions moved around the draft, but still ended up taking seven players, one in every round besides the fourth.
Part of the reason for Detroit moving all around is the lack of depth in recent draft class, including this one, as Lions general manager Brad Holmes spoke about in a recent appearance on 97.1 The Ticket.
“When you look at the past two or three drafts, even including this one, it has not been the same depth, the depth of talent,” Holmes said. “This year or last year or the year before, you don’t find an Alim McNeill in the third round. You don’t find an Amon-Ra St. Brown in the fourth round. Those guys just aren’t there as of recent. So we’re sitting there at 102, ‘Okay, if we stay here we’re going to be dealing with a different level of player based on our board—not on the 31 other boards, but based on our board.”
Holmes isn't the only one in Detroit's front office who shares this sentiment. In fact, Lions director of college scouting Brian Hudspeth spoke about the same thing just before the draft.
“There’s a lot less depth in the draft,” Hudspeth said. “Because, generally, at the peak of underclassmen coming out, you had about 120 to 130 players (per draft). Now it’s down to 55 to 70. So you’ve lost, essentially, almost two rounds of players in some regards. Now, that’s making the assumption that they were all going to be in the top rounds—and they generally were—but you’ve kinda lost some depth. So the NIL world has changed us a little bit that way.”
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The Lions have found themselves having more success in recent years, meaning more and more players will be receiving larger contracts, so they'll be looking to find new options in the middle or later rounds to help fill those holes. Holmes and his staff are probably stressed out knowing the reaping from their roster that's already started and could get worse.
However, with the first wave of NIL players beginning to enter the draft in the coming years, this issue could fix itself, but it will certainly be something to watch. We could see an explosion of depth in the one of the next drafts, leading to some solid late-round draft picks that end up being decent contributors earlier in their career than normal. That would beneficial for everyone, including Detroit.
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