Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers Fielding Many Calls for Their First Rounders

After the three-team trade involving San Francisco, Miami, and Philadelphia, it seemed safe to assume that wouldn’t be the last move made in the first round. While Baltimore’s acquisition of Kansas City’s first rounder in the Orlando Brown Jr. trade isn’t exactly earth-shattering in terms of draft impact, there could be news to come.

As mentioned in an earlier article, the New England Patriots have reportedly been looking for suitors to potentially move up from 15 and take Justin Fields. Two potential suitors are the Detroit Lions and Carolina Panthers; both of whom have been among the likeliest of teams to trade down.

Detroit currently owns the seventh pick and Carolina owns the eighth, but being that the majority of their needs are on the defensive side of the ball, top-10 picks in this draft don’t exactly suit them as well as mid-first rounders would. Because of that, moving down a few spots would make a lot of sense, especially considering that New England, Minnesota, and Philadelphia are among the favorites to trade up.

Should these teams move down, the teams likely to take a defensive player would be Dallas and potentially Minnesota if they stay put at 14. Other than that, these two teams should still have their choice of nearly all defensive players in the 12-15 range. A deal makes sense for both sides, so I’d be surprised if at least one of Detroit or Carolina didn’t make a move in the next couple days.