Detroit Lions: Bob Quinn’s one draft trade-down is officially a big win

Bob Quinn has been quiet in making trades during his three NFL Drafts as the GM of the Detroit Lions but his one trade down is already a big win.

The greatest oddity of Bob Quinn’s tenure as Detroit Lions general manager so far has been his propensity to stay put with his picks during the NFL Draft. Quinn has now been leading the charge of three drafts in which he has totaled just three draft day trades.

That should come as a surprise considering Quinn’s background in the New England Patriots front office. The Patriots are routinely among the most active in moving around the draft but that isn’t something we’ve seen from Quinn. Adding to the curiosity, all three of the draft day trades Quinn has made have been with the Patriots.

After going ten-for-ten in standing pat in his first draft, Quinn also stayed put with the first two picks of the 2017 NFL Draft. Then came the third round and the moment so many of us were waiting for. The Lions actually made a trade. Instead of making the 85th overall pick int he 2017 NFL Draft, the Lions made a trade with the Patriots to acquire picks 96 and 124.

Lions luck says the pick the Lions traded out of would go on to be a player they should have gone ahead and taken themselves. But not this time. The Patriots selected offensive lineman Tony Garcia, whose NFL career may be over before it even really began. It is in that bit of recent history that an otherwise small bit of non-Lions transaction news takes on significance.

It was the Patriots who faced bad luck this time as Garcia’s football career was derailed in training camp with blood clots in his lungs.

Quinn went on to draft wide receiver Kenny Golladay and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin with the picks they acquired from the Patriots. At the very least, the Lions have a promising wide receiver while the Patriots have nothing to show for their side of the deal. It remains to be seen what Reeves-Maybin will become but it wouldn’t be a total shock if Bob Quinn was looking into the future when he made the selection.

The trade goes down as a clear win for the Lions when considering what each side got out of the deal. However, to play devil’s advocate, it could be argued the Lions could have been better served staying in the pick and drafting running back Kareem Hunt. Hunt was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs with the 86th overall pick.

Hunt was phenomenal as a rookie for the Chiefs but it he likely wouldn’t have been enough to keep the Lions running game from being the disaster it was last season. Where that scenario gets interesting is that having him already in the fold would have taken running back off the 2018 NFL Draft shopping list, negating what ended up being a trade-up in the second round to select Kerryon Johnson.

Next: 30 best draft picks in Detroit Lions history

Is having Kareem Hunt and whatever else the Lions would have done with the second and fourth round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft better than having Kenny Golladay, Jalen Reeves-Maybin and Kerryon Johnson? Maybe, maybe not.