Lions Tried to trade up for Peterson: Should they be Glad They Couldn’t?

According to Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Pass the Detroit Lions offered their first, second, and fourth round picks to move up to draft Patrick Peterson, the athletic cornerback out of LSU. The Arizona Cardinals declined the trade and the Lions stayed at 13th and drafted Auburn Defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

Are the Lions lucky the trade didn’t go through, and did the Cardinals make the right decision?

Had the Cardinals traded with the Lions, the Cardinals would have held the 13th overall pick in the draft, with that pick they could have chosen DE/OLB Robert Quinn out of North Carolina. A player many draftniks thought the Cardinals might covet the whole process.

The Lions second pick is 44th overall, which would have belonged to the Cardinals. With that pick the Cardinals could have addressed a weakness in their offensive line by selecting Benjamin Ijalana out of Villanova. Or grabbed a cornerback like Miami’s Brandon Harris if they wanted cornerback help. The Cardinals also could have considered adding any number of talented WR like Titus Young or Torrey Smith.

The Lions also had a 4th round pick, which ended up with the Seahawks at 107th overall.  Where talented players like Davon House were still available.

The Lions on the other hand ended up with Nick Fairley by not moving up in the draft. They also grabbed Titus Young and used their 4th round pick to end up with Mikel LeShoure the RB out of Illinois.

It’s fun to play “what if” because the trade didn’t end up going through, and it turns out both teams had solid drafts so it might have been for the best.

What are your guys thoughts?

Lions fans are you happy the way it turned out or would you rather have had Just Patrick Petereson and whatever they might have come up minus their 2nd and 4th round picks.

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