5 thoughts on the Lions entering the second day of the 2025 NFL Draft

Apr 25, 2025 - 20:00

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1. Tyleik Williams is about the future (and the present)

First-round pick Tyleik Williams is all the evidence anyone needs that Lions GM Brad Holmes and his regime are looking longer than the coming season when they draft. Williams is good enough to start in 2025, but he will need to start in 2026 and beyond. DJ Reader, Roy Lopez, Levi Onwuzurike--anyone who plays that DT role next to Alim McNeill--are all free agents after the season.

Williams plays similarly to McNeill, who is injured and will miss at least the early portion of the 2025 season (something Holmes reinforced in his press conference after the Williams pick). He's a freaky athlete for 327 pounds, capable of getting quick pressure and showing outstanding range in the run game. Holmes acknowledged after the pick that McNeill and Williams can play together as "two Alim's" and that's a very fun thought. McNeill's unfortunate injury opens the door for Williams to start right away, so it does technically fill a short-term need as well as being a smart part of the long-term team-building vision.

2. The deep EDGE group should be in big play on Friday

The position group that fell in Thursday's first round happened to be the position where the Lions have an immediate need, both now and in the long-term: EDGE. Mike Green, Donovan Ezeiruaku and Nic Scourton were all almost universally projected as first-round picks by pundits, myself included; I had Ezeiruaku as the Lions pick at No. 28 in my final mock draft.

They're all still on the board. So are, in no particular order, JT Tuimoloau, Landon Jackson, Femi Oladejo, Jack Sawyer, Princely Umanmielen, Bradyn Swinson, Jordan Burch, Josaiah Stewart, Ashton Gillotte. That's a whole lot of talent clustered in rankings. Many of them are great Lions fits. Not good, great.

The Lions could very well double-dip here at 60 and 102, the two picks they have tonight. I doubt they do that, but if the board plays out a certain way, it's doable and plausible. I tabbed Oladejo from UCLA in the quick Day 2 mock at Draft Wire and he would be my personal preference if the aforementioned EDGEs projected from Day 1 who fell are all gone by the time the Lions go on the clock.

3. Players to know at 60

Oladejo, Tuimoloau and Landon Jackson figure to be the primary focus. All are absolute fits for this Lions regime. I'm not particularly a Jackson fan but I definitely see the allure for Detroit. But the Lions don't have to go EDGE at 60.

Other players on my radar for Detroit's first pick (at 60) of Day 2

Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State--who was my projection in the final Lions mock draft
Jack Bech, WR, TCU
Elic Ayomanor, WR, Stanford
Jalen Royals, WR, Utah State
Xavier Watts, S, Notre Dame
Billy Bowman, S, Oklahoma
Jonah Savaiianaea, OL, Arizona
Aireontae Ersery, OT, Minnesota
Carson Schwesinger, LB, UCLA

4. Players to know at 102

A round later, the Lions close out Day 2 with the 102nd pick. That's the compensatory pick awarded for Aaron Glenn becoming the Jets' head coach.

It's tough to project out 70 more picks from right now, but these players figure to be available and of interest to the Lions. Detroit does have the ability to move up and target a specific player in a trade, if they so choose. We all know Brad Holmes isn't afraid to move around, after all...

Ashton Gillotte, EDGE, Louisville
Jack Sawyer, EDGE, Ohio State
Bradyn Swinson, EDGE, LSU
Saivion Jones, EDGE, LSU
Ozzy Trapilo, OL, Boston College
Tate Ratledge, G, Georgia
Anthony Belton, OT, North Carolina State
Wyatt Milum, OL, West Virginia
Jalen Rivers, OL, Miami
Cody Simon, LB, Ohio State
Demetrius Knight, LB, South Carolina
Lathan Ransom, S, Ohio State
Jonas Sanker, S, Virginia
Kevin Winston, S, Penn State
Darien Porter, CB, Iowa State
Nohl Williams, CB, California
Tory Horton, WR, Colorado State
Kyle Williams, WR, Washington State
Isaac TeSlaa, WR, Arkansas, though I think he's much more likely to go on Day 3 than Round 3.

5. Something Brad said...

In his press conference on Thursday night--it ended just before the clock ticked to Friday--Holmes said something that really stood out to me.

"Got a few calls when it got close to our pick," Holmes said when asked if the Lions got calls from teams looking to trade up. "Just didn’t feel great just kind of how it was thinning out for us specifically."

Holmes admitted one was tempting, without elaborating. It's easy to think that was the Giants moving up from No. 34 to 25 and taking QB Jaxson Dart, but that seems to overshoot the Lions range. The Giants needed to get in front of the Rams at 26, as the Rams were perceived (right or wrong) as a viable threat to select Dart, what with Matthew Stafford nearing the end and no succession plan whatsoever.

Many Lions fans missed it, but the Eagles at No. 32 moved up to No. 31 in a trade with the Chiefs. Kansas City flipped an extra fifth-round pick to move up one spot and take a player the Chiefs absolutely were no threat to select; the Chiefs took Josh Simmons at 32 and would have at 31, too.

That means the Eagles were worried someone was looking to come up and snag the player they wanted: Alabama LB Jihaad Campbell. It's not difficult to extrapolate from that concept that the Eagles at least felt out the Lions for interest in moving back from 28 to 32. Or, alternately, that a team coveting Campbell (or Simmons) was looking to jump the line and offering the Lions an extra Day 3 pick to move in.

Holmes didn't bite. That should tell you how much the Lions valued Tyleik Williams over the other players who were still on the board.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: 5 thoughts on the Lions entering the second day of the 2025 NFL Draft