Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes generally sets aside the idea of strict needs in the draft, but at times he has shown he won't ignore clear needs. Ideally an edge rusher would have been taking well before the sixth round of this year's draft, even if Ahmed Hassanein looks like a great fit.
After the draft, Holmes acknowledged an unfulfilled effort to trade up for an edge rusher.
"All I hear is, 'Edge rusher, draft an edge rusher.' Well, are you assuming that the guy is really good? That’s a whole different story, Holmes said. "Can you get in position to get one of those? I don’t need to get into specifics, but there were times we made attempts to get one and they got picked before, you couldn’t get up. It takes two to trade."
As for which edge rusher the Lions might have been targeting to trade up for in the first round, Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports offered an educated guess.
"I think the Lions tried to trade up for Texas A&M edge rusher Shemar Stewart on Thursday night. Here's why I think that. First off, on day two, Lions GM Brad Holmes talked about trading up when asked about edge rushers.
"Why do we think it was Stewart? It's all based on the top-30 visits. The Lions really seem to love picking the guys they have in for those visits...The Lions had just three edge rushers in for 30 visits, and only one of them was a first-round guy. That was Stewart. He wound up going 17th to the Bengals."
The situation between Stewart and the Bengals is ugly. He has not signed his contract, and he did not participate in the offseason program as the team has apparently altered the language it has previously used in regard to the potential voiding of future guaranteed money. Stewart had been present, just not practicing, before leaving minicamp on the final day.
The realistic options for Stewart are few. He could of course just sign his contract between now and the start of training camp, or somewhere in that vicinity of time, and render everything that has taken place up to this point as moot.
Stewart could refuse to sign and ask to be traded. According to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, the window to trade an unsigned draft pick expires 30 days before the first game of the regular season. The CBA language is not specific about the actual first game of the season or the Bengals first game of the season, so Aug. 5 or Aug. 8 would be the end date for the possibility of a trade.
Stewart could wait to sign until the Tuesday after Week 10, the end point for when he can play in 2025 shy of showing an impartial arbitrator and case for "extreme personal hardship."
Lastly, he could sit out and re-enter the draft in 2026. He could then be drafted by any team except the Bengals.
Trying to return to Texas A&M for his senior season or playing in the CFL this summer are two other possible options for Stewart, but neither is without hurdles or future implications as John Breech of CBS Sports noted.
Shemar Stewart holdout could give Lions a viable mulligan on draft trade effort
Mitch Milani of Bleacher Report narrowed things to seven potential trade suitors for Stewart, assuming the Bengals would entertain the idea. Two of the Lions' division rivals, the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers, led the list, with the Lions coming in at No. 3.
Milani offered different trade packages for each possible Stewart suitor, and he did not waste time getting right to what the Lions would give up for Stewart in his trade proposal.
"The Detroit Lions would simply send their first-round selection in 2026 for Shemar Stewart....It also helps the Lions are expected to be an NFC contender, so this would be a later pick in the first round...so they would feel like they're getting value in this trade. Because Stewart did go with what? the 17th overall pick? So it would feel like they're stealing this player."Milani then made reference to the rumors attaching the Lions to Stewart.
"The Lions were actually rumored to be heavily interested in Stewart. Even to the point there were rumors after the draft that they were gonna trade up for him."
As Milani reinforced, defensive end/edge rusher is the biggest hole on the Lions' roster heading into the 2025 season. After Aidan Hutchinson there are nothing but question marks, and a possible reunion with Za'Darius Smith may be a one-sided desire.
Stewart is a raw prospect who lacked high-end production in college (4.5 sacks in three seasons at Texas A&M). But he tested well at the NFL Combine (4.59 40-yard dash, 10-foot, 11-inch broad jump), and if someone can cultivate his physical tools they could get an outstanding pass rusher for years to come.
If the Lions liked Stewart enough to try to trade up for him and they just couldn't get it done, it makes sense for Holmes to now at least see where the Bengals are in regard to trading him. Where they are now may not be where they are when training camp starts, or where they are when that August deadline to trade him if he's still not signed gets very close.
While both sides seem to be dug in, the most likely scenario is Stewart and the Bengals work something out. That being said, if the impasse lingers into training camp and Lions were to offer their first-round pick next year for him....that's an offer that probably shouldn't be refused. And what if it wouldn't take that to get him?
