{"id":49384,"date":"2025-07-31T06:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/49384\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T06:01:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:01:08","slug":"inside-the-den-6-things-we-learned-about-the-2025-detroit-lions-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/49384\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the Den: 6 things we learned about the 2025 Detroit Lions draft"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Wednesday night, the Detroit Lions<\/a> video crew, \u201cOne Pride Productions,\u201d dropped their most anticipated video of the year: \u201cInside the Den.\u201d After taking last year off, the Lions went back to the well of their behind-the-scenes draft series, offering fans a look inside the Lions\u2019 war room, pre-draft visits, and everything in between. <\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t watched it yet, there\u2019s an hour of goodies waiting for you.<\/a> But here are my six biggest takeaways.<\/p>\n

The Lions didn\u2019t want James Pearce<\/p>\n

Detroit drew a lot of criticism after the draft for waiting until Day 3 to draft a defensive end, but the docuseries made it clear that one EDGE draft prospect was not on their radar. When Tennessee defender James Pearce Jr. went to the Atlanta Falcons<\/a> with the 26th overall pick (two before the Lions), Detroit\u2019s war room erupted in celebration. <\/p>\n

We here at Pride of Detroit repeatedly expressed our belief that Pearce wasn\u2019t the kind of fit<\/a> the Lions may have been looking for, both on the field and off it. <\/p>\n

Both Tyleik Williams and Tate Ratledge had formal Combine meetings with Lions<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, one of the best parts of the video is watching Lions coaches grill players during 20-minute NFL Combine<\/a> interviews and seeing how they react. <\/p>\n

I found the clips of Williams and Ratledge to be extremely impressive, as they flashed both intelligence and the necessary grit to fit in Detroit. <\/p>\n

Williams was DC Kelvin Sheppard\u2019s favorite defensive player<\/p>\n

When the video showed Williams arrive at the Lions facility\u2014just a few days after he was there for a top-30 visit\u2014Sheppard was among the most excited to see him. Well, not more excited than Tashard Choice, who seems thrilled about just about everything. <\/p>\n

\u201cI told them,\u201d Sheppard is seen telling Williams. \u201cLike, Dan and all them knew that. They made jokes with me, because I was like, \u2018This is my favorite player, defensively, in this draft.\u2019 I didn\u2019t think we was gonna have the opportunity, and then just god-willing. You know how I told you, this ain\u2019t recruiting. I could love you all I want, but everything\u2019s gotta map out the right way. I truly believe this is where you\u2019re supposed to be.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sheila Hamp knew Ratledge could potentially play center on draft night <\/p>\n

Moments after the Lions had drafted Ratledge in the second round, you can see the Lions’ front office debriefing on the decision. It\u2019s then that the war-room footage captures a very important moment. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s Lions owner Sheila Hamp confirming with Dan Campbell that Ratledge has the versatility to play center. Flash forward three months, and with Frank Ragnow now retired, Ratledge is in the conversation to be the team\u2019s future center, despite only playing guard in college. They were thinking ahead. <\/p>\n

The Lions got Miles Frazier TWO ROUNDS AFTER they started considering him <\/p>\n

At the end of Day 2\u2014after the Lions\u2019 aggressive trade up to get Isaac TeSlaa\u2014Lions director of college scouting Brian Hudspeth turned to general manager Brad Holmes and asked him a simple question: <\/p>\n

If you had stayed put at the original third-round pick (102 overall), who would you have picked? <\/p>\n

Holmes\u2019 answer: \u201cIt probably would\u2019ve been that LSU<\/a> guard.\u201d <\/p>\n

He\u2019s talking about Miles Frazier, the player Holmes would end up drafting in the fifth round, nearly 70 picks later (171 overall). <\/p>\n

Holmes wanted Ahmed Hassanein or Dan Jackson. He got both. <\/p>\n

There was a lot of waiting involved on Day 3 of the NFL Draft. After selecting Frazier at 171, the Lions pondered their next few picks. At one point, cameras pick up a conversation between Holmes and Campbell\u2014and they\u2019re already laying out their choices for who would end up being their next two selections\u201434 picks apart. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the edge rusher, Ahmed Hassanein. He\u2019s from Egypt,\u201d Holmes points out to Campbell. \u201cOr this safety, Dan Jackson from Georgia.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI could go either way,\u201d Campbell responds. \u201cWhat are the odds Jackson\u2019s there in the seventh?\u201d <\/p>\n

Holmes\u2019 response? <\/p>\n

\u201cI might take both of them.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sure enough, Hassanein was selected with the team\u2019s sixth-round pick (196 overall), and Jackson did indeed slide to the seventh, with the Lions picking him 230th overall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Wednesday night, the Detroit Lions video crew, \u201cOne Pride Productions,\u201d dropped their most anticipated video of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[1476,38270,2120,2131,16911,38272,8305,424,26697,38271,2121,349,573,2129,99,1596,31000,404],"class_list":["post-49384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-about","tag-den","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-lions-analysis","tag-detroit-lions-draft","tag-detroit-lions-videos","tag-draft","tag-front-page","tag-inside","tag-learned","tag-lions","tag-nfl","tag-of","tag-pride","tag-sports","tag-the","tag-things","tag-we"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}