It's Thursday night, and the Colts are on the clock at 15th overall. The phone rings. It's Detroit.
In a mock draft from Pro Football Focus, Brad Holmes and the Lions offer the Colts picks Nos. 29 and 61 and a third-rounder in 2025 for picks Nos. 15 and 117, the latter being a fourth-rounder. The Colts accept, giving the Lions their choice of defensive linemen like Dallas Turner, Byron Murphy, Jared Verse and cornerbacks like Cooper DeJean and Quinyon Mitchell.
And with the 15th overall pick, the Lions take Mitchell out of Toledo, plugging the top cornerback in the draft into a defense that already added corners Carlton Davis III and Amik Robertson this offseason:
The Lions are clearly in “win now” mode and make a move here by trading up for PFF's 10th-ranked player in the draft class. Over the past two seasons, Mitchell surrendered just 56 receptions on 140 targets into his coverage with eight interceptions and 36 forced incompletions.
Not only that, Mitchell was the No. 1 cornerback in the country the past two seasons, per PFF. He had four picks and two pick sixes ... in one game two seasons ago. He showed out at the Senior Bowl and the combine this year, proving, in his own words, "that I can hang with the big dawgs."
If the Lions are indeed targeting a top corner on Thursday night, it might take a move like this to get one. Five cornerbacks are off the board before No. 29 in the PFF mock, led by Terrion Arnold (No. 11), Mitchell, DeJean (No. 17), Nate Wiggins (No. 25) and Kool-Aid McKinstry (No. 26).
Ditto four edge players in Laiatu Latu (No. 8), Turner (No. 16), Verse (No. 23) and Chop Robinson (No. 27). And five wide receivers in Marvin Harrison Jr. (No. 4), Malik Nabers (No. 5), Rome Odunze (No. 6), Brian Thomas (No. 13) and Adonai Mitchell (No. 28).