ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions (5-3) stood pat at the NFL’s trade deadline earlier this week.
Some fans are up in arms about the lack of movement, while others understand the long-term roster-building approach by general manager Brad Holmes -- building through the draft, above all else.
MLive’s Dungeon of Doom podcast opened the mailbag for this week’s episode. Hosts Kory Woods and Ben Raven answered questions from readers and spent a ton of time offering their thoughts on what the Lions said after not making any moves.
Raven was asked to pick the move made around the NFL that he wanted to see. The Dungeon of Doom co-host pointed to the Philadelphia Eagles acquiring pass rusher Jaelan Phillips for a third-rounder. The other move that made Raven raise his eyebrow was the Los Angeles Chargers taking a flier on former first-round offensive lineman Trevor Penning.
But, as Woods noted, the Lions shipped off two first-round picks to move up and take receiver Isaac TeSlaa, limiting their crop of selections to dangle.
“I believe that if the Lions had third-round picks to spare ... that they would have made moves,” Woods said. “But when you’re talking about giving that first or second. No, I don’t land there.
“I think after they get your nucleus locked in those depth pieces, you might be able to find some guys in later rounds or in free agency to come in. But once you get those key starters, key role players locked into deals (Brian Branch, Sam LaPorta, Jack Campbell and Jahmyr Gibbs), OL, we can get a little bit crazier, get a little bit of wild out there.”
Dan Campbell said there were a couple of things Holmes brought to him ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. But the Lions coach added that “it wasn’t good enough,” and that every thought remained in the intriguing bucket and didn’t progress past that.
By protecting their picks and banking on their internal options, the Lions are banking on the methods that got them this far in their rebuild. They don’t sacrifice the long-term outlook of the team for a quick move, and as frustrating as that might be to fans, the team’s methods are consistent.
“I think that if everything about it was right -- when you start talking like that, like throw all the picks away, that’s a lot,” Campbell said. “I mean, that’s a lot of capital, especially with guys that we’ve got that we’re signing and we want to continue to sign to keep what we have intact. Now, you’re not only throwing the picks, you’ve also got to pay that player, too, probably. Otherwise, why are you throwing all the picks at a guy that you’re buying him for a year?
“And so then it really kind of -- everything that we planned for, you just might as well throw it in the trash. So, I don’t want to say never ... But he and I both agree that this is how we proceed, this is how we go about our business, and we have a long-term approach. But I’ll never say never.”
**See below to listen to the latest mailbag podcast from the Dungeon of Doom:**
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