Lions’ 3 biggest mistakes in 2025 NFL Draft

The Lions started the draft by taking defensive tackle Tyleik Williams from Ohio State in the first round.

Williams was the fifth offensive lineman to be selected in the first round. The pick was surprising for a number of reasons.

First, many NFL fans and analysts spent so much time hyping up an edge rusher in the first round. Ultimately, this pick was bound to be criticized if it was not an edge rusher.

Second, Williams was a slight reach at the bottom of the first round.

NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein gave Williams a second-round grade and compared him to Lions tackle Alim McNeill.

Williams will be an immediate plus in run defense, something Detroit places a lot of value on. However, he is a projection as a pass rusher. In this respect, he is similar to McNeill when coming out of college.

In fairness to the Lions, they were able to coach up McNeill and get much more out of him.

Does Williams have to reach that ceiling for this pick to pan out?

Lions traded way too much for Isaac TeSlaa

Detroit’s third-round pick was almost universally bashed for a couple reasons.

First, almost nobody was familiar with TeSlaa until the Lions selected him. He did not come out of nowhere, but he was not highly regarded during the pre-draft process. That is always a recipe to get fans upset.

Second, the Lions spent a lot to go and get him.

As Mel Kiper explained when giving out his draft grades, the Lions simply spent too much to get a player they liked.

“Detroit’s most questionable move, though, was trading up from No. 102 to No. 70 to take receiver Isaac TeSlaa,” Kiper said. “Good player, but he was ranked No. 149 overall on my board. I count 12 receivers ranked above him who were still available — and nine of them still would have been there at the Lions’ original slot. To make the aggressive move up the board, Detroit forked over two 2026 third-rounders.”

I like the fit of TeSlaa in Detroit in a vacuum. However, it is hard to argue that this pick was anything other than a reach purely in terms of the cost.

TeSlaa could silence his critics if he becomes a consistent contributor for the Lions over the next few seasons.

Detroit should not have waited until the sixth round to pick an edge rusher

The Lions were routinely linked with an edge rusher during the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

It is easy to understand why. Detroit was absolutely ravaged by defensive injuries during the 2024 season. No injury was more important than the loss of Aidan Hutchinson.

As a result, everyone around the NFL expected the Lions to use a first-round pick on an edge rusher. When the Lions passed on several edge rushers, including Donovan Ezeiruaku and Mike Green, it was a huge surprise.

The Lions did not help matters on day two of the draft, though the selection of Ratledge was viewed positively by both analysts and fans alike.

Detroit did invest in an edge rusher, Boise State’s Ahmed Hassanein, in the sixth round. Hassanein has an incredible story and absolutely looks like a Dan Campbell type player. It is almost impossible to argue with this pick.

That said, I worry that passing on an edge rusher until the Hassanein pick will put too much pressure on the rookie.

Hassanein has everything needed to become a talented NFL edge rusher, particularly a pass-rush specialist. However, he will need time to learn from Detroit’s coaching staff before he is a valuable player on Sundays.

Hopefully the Lions will explore additional options throughout the summer, be that veteran free agents or the trade market, to add talent on the edge.