Bob Quinn reminded us before the draft that it takes to two teams to make a trade. His words proved prophetic Thursday night when the Lions tried and failed to move down from the third overall pick.
While the Lions had several conversations as far back as the combine, Quinn said they "never got a firm offer."
"No team put anything on the table. I had multiple conversations with multiple teams. They were kind of fishing around, we were open for business and nothing was ever put in front of us to evaluate," said Quinn.
Forced to stay at No. 3, the Lions took Ohio State CB Jeffrey Okudah. They'll enter Day 2 of the draft with picks Nos. 35, 67 and 85. It wasn't the outcome Quinn wanted, but the value of the No. 3 pick wasn't as high as he hoped.
What's more, the Lions never had much leverage. While both the Dolphins and Chargers were rumored to be eyeing either Tua Tagovailoa or Justin Herbert third overall, it was obvious Detroit wasn't taking a QB. So instead of giving up assets, Miami and L.A. stood pat and got the guys they wanted just the same.
Asked if he could've increased the trade market by showing more public interest in quarterbacks, Quinn said, "We evaluate all the positions the same. I never say, 'We're not going to evaluate a position.' So we evaluated quarterbacks. We have a good quarterback; I feel great with Matthew Stafford. I think I've said that over and over again.
"Listen, teams do a very in-depth analysis of your roster, your needs and your contract situations. Not to put down the pundits out there, but the teams know better than the people who are reporting on it, about what teams need and what teams can actually do. So I think we did the best we can."
Quinn added that the Giants and Dolphins, the two teams directly below the Lions, weren't going to be fooled by any kind of posturing. The head coaches of both teams -- Joe Judge in New York, Brian Flores in Miami -- know him too well.
"I worked with them (in New England) for a very long time," said Quinn. "I think they know myself, they know Matt (Patricia). Obviously we don't share our inner secrets, but they can look at our team and can evaluate our needs and can look at our contracts. That's just kind of how it went."
While the Lions were dissappointed to be shut out of a trade, they were more than happy to draft Okudah. He's a potential No. 1 corner who can step in immediately for Darius Slay, and he comes from the kind of defensive system that should make for an easy transition to Detroit.
"You see him play a lot of press coverage. You see him at the line of scrimmage, you see him use his hands. A lot of stuff that we do defensively, you can just pop on Ohio State and just watch it and it's very similar," said Quinn. "We expect him to come in and play right away and help us win."
