A detailed explanation of how and why the Detroit Lions selected RB Jahmyr Gibbs with the 12th overall pick.
First round of the 2023 Detroit Lions NFL Draft It will go down as one of the most surprising events in recent history. While the Lions’ running back early wasn’t a complete shock, Jahmir Gibbs’ selection with the 12th overall pick was something none of the generals had on their radar.
The Lions have drawn a lot of criticism for reaching both a player and a position, but general manager Brad Holmes made it clear Thursday night, that he doesn’t care about outside realization or a mock draft.
“They bring value,” Holmes said of mock drafts, “but it doesn’t really move me.” “I didn’t really look at, man, Jahmer Gibbs, he was sneering in the ’50s.” Now that one I laughed at because if you look at the talent of the player and then you look at the overall draft, I didn’t think that was even remotely close.”
How did it all happen this way? How did we all miss the Intentions of the Lions?
Sports Illustrated’s Albert Brier provided some clarity on the Lions’ pursuit of Gibbs in his Monday morning column.
As many have speculated, it started with Devon Witherspoon going on to Seattle Seahawks With the fifth overall selection. Breer believes he was the initial target of the Lions, with the intention of trading and acquiring Gibbs, but when Witherspoon was gone, they had to change plans – which they were prepared to do.
Brier says the Lions were ready to “break the internet” and chose Gibbs as the sixth overall.
“We didn’t think we’d do this at sixHolmes said to Campbell, But who cares? He’s our favorite guy.”
But then, as Brier said, the Arizona Cardinals “Throw a life raft on them.”
The Lions managed to drop six places to 12th overall, and a key member of the Cardinals’ front office helped facilitate the trade. You may recall that this past January, Detroit Lions director of scouting Dave Sears was hired by the Cardinals to be their new assistant general manager. Sears’ relationship with Holmes helped organize the trade.
“The Cardinals counted on another relationship, between black GM Brad Holmes and their assistant GM Dave Sears, whom (Cardinals GM Monti) Ossenfort hired away from Detroit in February,” Brier wrote.
Arizona proved to be the perfect candidate to cut Detroit’s price, because the Lions were worried if they waited too long—say, until their 18th overall pick—Gibbs would be gone.
“The Cardinals gave Holmes the shot to catch a high second, go back six points, and cross fingers, Gibbs still got the touchdown, by staying ahead of two teams the Lions have heard he likes, in the Patriots (in 14) and Jets (in 15), Brier wrote.
While all of this is a mixture of Breyer’s reporting and private speculation, it is consistent with what Holmes said after the first day of the draft.
Were they really into Witherspoon? Holmes does not say it outright, but does mention that some of their “fellows” were taken prior to their sixth overall choice.
“(There are) like a bunch of favorites in the draft,” Holmes said. “Some of those guys were taken before we could pick, but Jahmir was definitely one of those guys.”
As for rumors that another team was interested in taking Gibbs before their 18th overall pick, Holmes said after they selected Gibbs, he received several texts and calls from teams saying exactly that.
“That’s when all the scripts started coming in, ‘Oh, it would have been 15 years off,’” Holmes said. “Just a lot of choice, a lot of people saying they wanted to trade, they wanted to get it.”
It remains to be seen if any of that is true. Maybe we’ll catch a glimpse of these intense moments when Lions drops the behind-the-scenes video for “Inside the Den” on draft. But for now, that seems like a plausible chain of events that led to Jahmir Gibbs being the Detroit Lions.
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