The murmurs began shortly before the draft. The day of, in fact. According to CBS Sports, Lions GM Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia were divided on taking Jeff Okudah or Derrick Brown with the third overall pick.
Quinn favored Okudah, while Patricia favored Brown, the defensive tackle from Auburn.
According to Mike Valenti, the division went deeper than that. Valenti reported Monday that Quinn was the only person in the Lions' chain of decision makers who wanted Okudah. Members of the player personnel staff were split between Alabama QB Tua Tagovailoa and Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons.
But Quinn made the executive call and drafted Okudah anyway.
"From what I was told, no one on player personnel wanted them to take him at 3," Valenti said. "No one wanted Okudah at 3. Your head coach didn’t want Okudah at 3. Bob Quinn decided, 'I’m the smartest guy in the room, I don’t really care what anybody has to say. I’m taking Okudah at 3.'"
Valenti said his information came from two different people within the Lions organization.
"If the Lions are upset with it, too bad. Tell people in your building to stop saying it. Nobody wanted this kid at 3. And if you’re asking me, from what I’ve been told, your coach wanted Derrick Brown. That’s what I keep hearing. Player personnel, it was Tua or Simmons."
After the Lions took Okudah, Tagovailoa went No. 4 to the Dolphins, Brown went No. 7 to the Panthers, and Simmons went No. 8 to the Cardinals. All three defensive players have struggled in the early going, while Tagovailoa has yet to take the field for Miami.
Asked about the report in his Monday afternoon press conference, Patricia quickly shot it down.
"Obviously we usually don’t talk about any of that stuff. We like to keep that stuff internal. But since that is so blatantly not even close to true, I would like just to make sure that, it is not a true statement at all," Patricia said.
Quinn and Patricia are typically on the same page in matters of player evaluation. Both were extremely high on Okudah after the draft, citing his technical polish and mental makeup as reasons he could contribute right away.
So far, that hasn't been the case. Okudah struggled in training camp, missed the season opener with a hamstring injury, and was badly exposed against the Packers in his NFL debut.
There's still plenty of time for the 21-year-old to live up to expectations. In the meantime, the development of both Brown and Simmons will be interesting to watch.