2026 NFL Draft

[AlaskanTigersFan]

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2026-nfl-mock-draft-way-too-early-arch-manning - Way too early order / mocks. Most early mocks have us taking an Edge..... We all know how that worked out this year.... 

 

Detroit Lions PIcks

1st Round - Own

2nd Round - Own

4th Round - Own

5th Round - Own

6th - (Not known yet)

7th - (Not known yet)

7th - (Not known yet)

 

The 7th rounders could flex pending on trades. We still owe a 7th for Kicker Riley Patterson. Also the pick we got back for Isaac TeSlaa in the 6th and the one we got back in the 7th for Za'Darius Smith are still unknown.

[Hongbit]

Here’s a link to their early 2025 draft for comparison. 

They had some massive misses but it looks like they correctly picked 11 players that ended in the first round.   Not great but not horrible either. 

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-way-too-early-2025-nfl-mock-draft-james-pearce-jr-panthers

[MichiganCardinal]

As long as we’re picking 32nd.

[AlaskanTigersFan]

I could see the lions reloading with draft picks after this season..... I think Kittle's deal throws us out of the LaPorta range. So I think he'll be traded for draft assets. If JaMO has a great year, I think he could recoup some picks as well. Those two alone will give us another two or three picks in the first three rounds next year. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our older O-linemen are also traded next year for some replacement picks too. I think we're going to see quite an influx of picks after this coming season. Just my $0.02.

[1984Echoes]

I don't think they'll let LaPorta go.

Jamo, yes. I hope he has a great year in order to maximize Holmes choices (sign/ trade/ etc...). I think he'll be traded after next season's end.

I don't know what an older O-Lineman would return... I would think nothing because you can just wait for lots of veterans to be waived by the end of training camp. I would think someone more like Sorsdal in that a team might believe he has enough talent and doesn't want to chance getting him going through the waiver process. Maybe a 6th or 7th for Sorsdal?

Just guessing...

[KL2]

4 hours ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

I could see the lions reloading with draft picks after this season..... I think Kittle's deal throws us out of the LaPorta range. So I think he'll be traded for draft assets. If JaMO has a great year, I think he could recoup some picks as well. Those two alone will give us another two or three picks in the first three rounds next year. I wouldn't be surprised if one of our older O-linemen are also traded next year for some replacement picks too. I think we're going to see quite an influx of picks after this coming season. Just my $0.02.

Laporta wont get near kittle money. Good player but not near that level. 

And they wont trade an oline dude. There'd be a cap hit with that and you aren't getting jack for an old lineman. Maybe a 7th rounder if your lucky. Just easier to let them walk/retire

 

[AlaskanTigersFan]

21 hours ago, KL2 said:

Laporta wont get near kittle money. Good player but not near that level. 

And they wont trade an oline dude. There'd be a cap hit with that and you aren't getting jack for an old lineman. Maybe a 7th rounder if your lucky. Just easier to let them walk/retire

 

Can you explain the cap hit? If a player is traded, doesn't his salary go to the traded team? I forget the really famous Edge that sat out most of the year. He got penalized for sitting out, but I thought the team was trying to trade him to get him off the books but because they coudln't he sat out a bunch of games and got fined quite a bit. Really famous guy. But I thought the salary went to traded team.

[4hzglory]

1 hour ago, AlaskanTigersFan said:

Can you explain the cap hit? If a player is traded, doesn't his salary go to the traded team? I forget the really famous Edge that sat out most of the year. He got penalized for sitting out, but I thought the team was trying to trade him to get him off the books but because they coudln't he sat out a bunch of games and got fined quite a bit. Really famous guy. But I thought the salary went to traded team.

The allocation of the signing bonus remains hits the cap all at once when a player is traded-similar to when they’re cut.  

Example:  player signs a 4 year contract with a $40 million signing bonus.  That bonus counts $10 million against the cap for each of the 4 years even though it was paid up front.  So if the player is traded after year 1, the team takes a $30 million dead cap hit immediately.  If he’s traded after year 3, it’s only a $10 million dead cap hit.

So if they are going to cut a player anyway, they will try and trade them.  If they aren’t and there is a significant amount of signing bonus still to be allocated, they likely will not.

[RandyMarsh]

LaPorta is replaceable in my eyes, I have no problem trading him like they did Hockenon if it means paying guys like Brian Branch or Jameson Williams instead.  

[RatkoVarda]

25 minutes ago, RandyMarsh said:

LaPorta is replaceable in my eyes, I have no problem trading him like they did Hockenon if it means paying guys like Brian Branch or Jameson Williams instead.  

Dan might know very well that TEs are fungible.