Thursday evening brought on a surprise drop of “Inside the Den,” the Detroit Lions Emmy-award winning documentary series. The latest installment was a look back at the 2026 NFL Draft, and it provided for a lot of insight into the things that happened—and nearly happened—for the Lions. Here are a few of the biggest takeaways from this newest episode.

The Lions feelings on Blake Miller changed their approach to Day 1

Every team’s media department has what very well could be their most difficult job of the year when it comes to producing a behind-the-scenes look of draft day. They comb through hours upon hours of footage, making sure not to unveil sensitive intel—like flashing a draft board directly to the media to make your point—while also looking to cut and edit things in a way that makes it appear as everything happened just the way your team had wanted it to happen. Franchise propaganda provides for a lot of hope, but even so, there’s a lot of footage here that shows the Lions were actually pretty high on their eventual first-round pick, Clemson’s Blake Miller.

Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell were shown having a discussion about how—and when—the run on tackles would happen, with Holmes wondering if one would potentially go before the sixth overall pick.

“Well, the good news is we got hot on Miller,” Campbell said just a few minutes into the time for Las Vegas to make their pick at No. 1. “You know, that [liking Miller] helped big time.”

The Lions appeared to be content with a few names coming off the board at offensive tackle, but by pick No. 12, Detroit started to get active on the phone to ensure they’d come away with Miller. Holmes’ first call was to Eric DeCosta, the general manager for the Baltimore Ravens, who held the No. 14 pick. Baltimore’s asking price was No. 17, 118, 128, and a third-round pick in 2027. The Los Angeles Rams, sitting at No. 13, wanted No. 17, 50, and 118 for No. 13 and 93. Even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had their price for Detroit to move up to No. 15: No. 17, 118, and 128 for No. 15 and 195.

But once the Rams went with Ty Simpson, and the Buccaneers took Rueben Bain, Detroit felt confident that Miller would be there at No. 17. Who Detroit preferred to Miller remains to be revealed, but what’s clear is Miller was the player among the tackles they seemed willing to move up and make sure they left with on Day 1.

“We do all the rankings, and when we started to dive into those tackle rankings, it really just kind of came very very clear that we’d love have this guy as a Lion,” Holmes said about Miller.

“I can’t believe it worked out that way,” Campbell told to Holmes in the Lions draft room. “I mean, that was crazy. I thought all those tackles were gonna be gone. Got our guy and didn’t have to give up anything to do it.”

“Not a damn thing,” Holmes added.

No fourth round picks would come in between Holmes and Derrick Moore

Much like Detroit’s first day of the draft, the Lions identified a player they wanted to come away with, but weren’t sure if he’d be available at their selection (No. 50).

“You always reset and you have that stack, cluster of players that you would really like to have,” Holmes described about the process for Day 2 of the draft, “but Derrick [Moore] was at the top of that stack.”

Prior to Day 2 of the NFL Draft, we see both Holmes and Campbell share their interest with Sheila Ford Hamp about Michigan’s Derrick Moore, identifying him as an intriguing player for tomorrow. But then when the day arrives, we hear Campbell spell out his interest more plainly.

“We’d love to get the rusher from Michigan. He’s kind of our top target right now. There’s a lot of guys in there that are really good players we like, but that’s kinda because he can play d-end, able to rush, but you know, bring something we can use.”

Initially, Holmes felt Moore would stick around until the Lions pick at No. 50, but once Kansas City took R Mason Thomas with the pick at No. 40, Holmes grew concerned with the number of teams after the Chiefs and before the Lions’ pick that had a need at defensive end. So much so that the video footage of Holmes and Campbell learning about the Thomas pick caused Holmes to shift in his chair and grab his phone—and Campbell to bite at his fingernail.

“Derrick Moore was our No. 1 guy, we have multiple fours,” Holmes recalled of his thought process in moving up for Moore. “That’s why I felt like let’s not lose out on our top guy. That’s why we went ahead and just made the move up just to make sure that we secured them.”

Detroit had their sights set on an undersized defensive tackle heading into Day 3

As the second day of the NFL Draft winded down, a few of the Lions staff gathered to discuss players still available for Detroit’s final selections on Day 3. Holmes throws out a hypothetical: “Would you take [Keith] Abney over [Kendrick] Law?” The Lions director of scouting, Dwayne Joseph prefers Law while Brian Hudspeth, the Lions director of college scouting, would be in favor of Abney. Senior advisory Don Corzine throws out his favorite player: Jimmy Rolder.

While these three players would all end up getting selected by the Detroit Lions, Holmes asks everyone in the room to give him their “Halton, Rolder, Abney, and Law rankings.” As in Gracen Halton, the defensive tackle from Oklahoma. The San Francisco 49ers would end up taking Halton with the No. 107 pick, 11 spots ahead of Jimmy Rolder going at No. 118.

If Detroit’s guy wasn’t at 118, Holmes was ready to move back

“If our guy’s not there, then I’ll let you know,” Holmes told a member of the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers were willing to part with No. 123 and a pick in the sixth round according to the footage from “Inside the Den,” and Holmes reiterates to his staff that if the Lions’ top guy isn’t available at 118, he’s willing to move back because there were “five guys” that Detroit considered to be their top targets at this point in the draft.

The Chargers would instead make that same trade offered to Detroit with Houston, sending No. 123 and No. 204 to the Texans for No. 117 to select Travis Burke, an offensive tackle from Memphis. That left the Lions with the prospect they’d been hoping to grab in Jimmy Rolder.