Lions predicted to trade up in NFL Draft 1st round to help Jared Goff originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Coming off a season in which they just missed the playoffs, the Detroit Lions would really like to get their 2026 NFL Draft off to a strong start.
Entering Thursday night's first round, they're slated to have the No. 17 overall pick. They could look to be aggressive in the trade market, though.
ESPN's Peter Schrager is predicting in a new mock draft out Wednesday that the Lions could find a way to move up from 17 to somewhere earlier in the round.
Rams get: No. 17, No. 118 and a 2027 second-round pick
It's a bit rich for a four-spot move, but he has the Lions doing it to draft the big offensive tackle out of Alabama, Kadyn Proctor.
"Taylor Decker was released, and Proctor is still sitting there," Schrager writes. "So, general manager Brad Holmes might call up his old team and see if the Rams are open for business. Proctor would be a huge presence (6-foot-7, 352 pounds) at left tackle for Jared Goff and the Detroit offense, and taking a left tackle would mean Penei Sewell could stay on the right side."
MORE: Shedeur Sanders sets the bar for NFL Draft craziness
Offensive line draft picks are never the most exciting, but the Lions have also seen with Sewell how well things can work out with the right guy.
Proctor seems to have a wide range of possible outcomes across various mock drafts, anywhere from in the top-10 to outside the top-20.
His stock does seem to have risen in the last month or so leading into the draft, so it would make sense for a team that covets him to make a move up the board to make sure he's there. The Lions could potentially be that team.
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