Detroit loves the draft. Even after the best night of it.
Another massive crowd has assembled for the rounds two and three of the draft, one day after (officially) 275,000 showed up and (unofficially) 400,000 turned out.
Kudos to Detroit and again to the NFL for realizing the draft could be made even bigger than it was by taking it on the road.
It really is, as we’ve said before, the ultimate reality show about nothing. They could do it anywhere. They could do it nowhere. They could do it by group text.
It’s just a stage from which names are announced. It’s amazing that it has become what it has become.
What it has become is the biggest tentpole of offseason. A flea market for plausible hope that lets fans of all teams think this year could be the year.
The first 14 picks in Thursday night’s first round were offensive players, which was both the longest run without a defensive player to open an NFL draft in history and a good development for the Lions.
Lions General Manager Brad Holmes said that the team was hoping to add a cornerback in the draft, but that they didn’t plan on former Alabama corner Terrion Arnold slipping to the 29th pick. That calculus changed once all the offensive players started coming off the board and Holmes pulled the trigger on a trade with the Cowboys once Arnold made it to No. 24.
Holmes said there was “a pretty significant line underneath him to the next guy,” so it was hard for him to contain his pleasure about how things played out.
“I don’t want to say speechless, but overly thrilled with how tonight went,” Holmes said, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. “All these drafts, you never know how it’s going to go. We knew it was an offensive-heavy draft. That’s what we did know. We didn’t quite know those defenders would get pushed to that point, especially a guy like Terrion, but we couldn’t be more ecstatic or thrilled with how it went.”
Arnold will have some familiar faces meeting him in Detroit as former Alabama players Jahmyr Gibbs, Brian Branch, and Jameson Williams have joined the Lions in recent years. The hope is that they can help the Lions maintain the kind of success they grew accustomed to in college.
Maybe they should change the title of the classic KISS song to Detroit Draft City.
Via the Detroit News, the NFL’s official attendance number for last night’s festivities was 275,000. Police officials, however, estimated that 400,000 showed up.
It underscores the raw power of taking the draft on the road, something that happened basically by accident in 2015. Radio City Music Hall was booked for the weekend the NFL wanted to do the draft, so the league went to Chicago and that, as they say, was that.
The official number shatters the prior single-day record of 200,000 in Nashville. And it means that the draft will continue to be a traveling, open-air roadshow — with every NFL city likely getting its chance to host the league’s No. 1 offseason tentpole event.
The crowd noticeably thinned as the night lingered. It apparently was cold. It will be interesting to see how many fans show up tonight and tomorrow, as the event loses its natural opening-night luster.
The Cowboys were on the clock at No. 24, but they opted to move back instead of drafting Duke offensive lineman Graham Barton. Oklahoma offensive tackle Tyler Guyton also remains on the board.
The Lions gave up the 29th pick and the 73rd pick in return to move up five spots. Detroit also received a 2025 seventh-round pick from the Cowboys.
The Lions used the selection to take Alabama cornerback Terrion Arnold, only the seventh defensive player to be drafted tonight.
Detroit has upgraded at the position this offseason, with Arnold pairing with veteran Carlton Davis. The Lions traded with the Buccaneers for Davis earlier in the offseason.
It is the third consecutive year the Lions have drafted an Alabama player in the first round.
Detroit has shown up and is showing out tonight.
Downtown Detroit is hosting the NFL draft, and two hours before it begins, the crowd is sizeable.
NFL vice president of communications Brian McCarthy tweeted a photo from a security camera showing a crowd the league estimates at 150,000 and growing with two hours to go until the Bears are on the clock with the No. 1 overall pick.
One of three entrances into the draft already is closed due to crowd capacity.
This is the first time Detroit has hosted the draft.
Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown signed a lucrative contract extension on Wednesday, signaling just how far he’s come since the day the Lions drafted him.
In fact, St. Brown considered everything about the 2021 NFL draft a major disappointment: He wasn’t happy that he lasted until the fourth round, and he really wasn’t happy that the Lions were the team to draft him.
“Three years ago, when I got that call at exactly this time, I told my brother [Equanimeous], ‘If there’s one team I don’t want to go to, that’s the Lions. Just, please, I don’t want to go to the Lions,” St. Brown said, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “I was happy but I was unhappy at the same time because I didn’t want to come here. But looking back on it, it’s for the best. I don’t think there’s another place where I could have done what I’ve done here, with the people that are around me, the coaches, my teammates, the fans, the city, the whole story of how everything has been going so far, I would pay for this if I could, to have this whole thing happen again. It’s a perfect story.”
And it’s a story that will have several more chapters. This week’s contract extension ensured that.
News dropped on Wednesday that the Lions had agreed to contract extensions with a pair of 2021 draft picks: offensive tackle Penei Sewell and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
A fourth-round pick in the 2021 draft, St. Brown noted even last year that he still thinks about the 16 receivers who were selected ahead of him — illustrating how he plays with a chip on his shoulder.
So now that he’s earned a second contract, how will he maintain playing with that edge?
“I’ve gotta go harder. I told everyone, I’m going harder now,” St. Brown said on Thursday, via Eric Woodyard of ESPN. “I’m not changing. My goal — our goal — is that Lombardi. We need it. We feel like we can do it. So, that’s our goal going into the season — we want that trophy.
“But I’m not changing. Everyone knows that — or I hope they do, or they’ll find out. I’m just glad I’m here for four more years, whatever it is. To be with the guys, the coaches, the teammates, the fans — everyone that’s a part of the organization is… I hear a lot of stories about other teams and whatnot, but this is all I know and they’ve been awesome to me so far.”
St. Brown was a first-team All-Pro in 2023 after recording 119 catches for 1,515 yards with 10 touchdowns in 16 games. He then had 22 receptions for 274 yards with a touchdown in three postseason contests.
He’s registered 315 catches for 3,588 yards with 21 TDs in his first three seasons.
The Lions were giving out money to young players who have earned it on Wednesday. Top-ten 2021 draft pick Penei Sewell got one of those new deals.
Per a source with knowledge of the terms, here are the details.
1. Signing bonus: $15 million.
2. 2024 base salary: $1.446 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2025 option bonus: $25 million, fully guaranteed at signing.
4. 2025 base salary: $1.54 million, fully guaranteed at signing.
5. 2026 base salary: $19.9 million, fully guaranteed in 2025.
6. 2026 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
7. 2027 base salary: $23.9 million, $12.113 million of which is fully guaranteed by 2026 and $10 million of which is fully guaranteed by 2027.
8. 2027 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
9. 2028 base salary: $25.9 million.
10. 2028 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
11. 2029 offseason 90-man roster bonus: $2.5 million.
12. 2029 base salary: $19.4 million.
13. 2029 offseason workout bonus: $100,000.
It’s a three-year extension of the five-year rookie contract, which included his 2024 base salary of $3.94 million and his fully-guaranteed fifth-year option salary of $19.04 million.
The deal pays out $16.446 million in 2024, $26.54 million in 2025, $20 million in 2026, $24 million in 2027, $26 million in 2028, and #22 million in 2029.
The new-money average is $28 million per year. The average from signing is $22.497 million annually. He becomes the highest-paid offensive lineman in the NFL, on a new-money basis.
Amon-Ra St. Brown was the 17th receiver drafted in 2021. He’s the second to get a lucrative long-term deal.
Here are the real details of the contract signed Monday by St. Brown and the Lions, per a source with knowledge of the terms.
1. Signing bonus: $16.5 million.
2. 2024 base salary: $1.366 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2025 option bonus: $8.5 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2025 base salary: $8.3 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2025 offseason roster bonus: $100,000.
6. 2025 per-game roster bonus: $510,000, total.
7. 2026 base salary: $27.5 million, guaranteed for injury at signing and fully guaranteed in 2025.
8. 2026 offseason roster bonus: $100,000.
9. 2026 per-game roster bonus: $510,000, total.
10. 2027 base salary: $23.37 million, $14.834 million of which is guaranteed at signing, $7.417 million of which becomes fully guaranteed in 2026 with the other $7.417 million becoming fully guaranteed in 2027.
11. 2027 offseason roster bonus: $100,000.
12. 2027 per-game roster bonus: $510,000, total.
13. 2028 base salary: $35.4 million.
14. 2028 offseason roster bonus: $100,000.
15. 2028 per-game roster bonus: $510,000, total.
The deal has $35.276 million fully guaranteed at signing. The practice guarantee is $62.776 million, since the Lions can avoid the 2026 base salary guarantee only by cutting him after 2024. The injury guarantees are $77.612 million.
The four-year extension has a new-money average of $30.0025 million. However, the compensation package in the final year — $36.01 million — pushes it to that level. Through three years, the extension is worth $28 million per year.
From signing, the deal has an annual value of $24.675 million. Removing the puffed-up final year, the average value of the five-year deal from signing is $21.841 million.
Like so many other contracts given to receivers, the details paint a far different picture than the initial reports. St. Brown’s deal is no different.
He’s technically the highest-paid receiver in new-money APY. But with $63.386 million in cash over the first three years, Colts receiver Michael Pittman has a better deal at three years, $70 million and then the franchise tag or free agency or a new long-term deal.
It’s still a great contract. But it’s not the best deal any receiver has ever done.
Even if it were, it’s just a matter of time before Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase push the bar higher. Possibly significantly higher.
There has been some more reporting about Lions offensive tackle Penei Sewell’s new contract.
Per Albert Breer of SI.com, Detroit picked up Sewell’s fifth-year option on Wednesday morning. With the four years added to that, Sewell is now tied to the Lions through the 2029 season.
Breer also notes that Sewell will receive $63 million over the first three years of the first three years. He was due roughly $23 million over the next two seasons, which means he’s set to receive $40 million for the first new year of the contract. He’ll receive $87 million over the first four years. The deal also has a rolling guarantee structure.
So while Sewell and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown both agreed to four-year extensions with the Lions on Wednesday, Sewell will be under contract for one more year than St. Brown. Without a fifth-year option, St. Brown’s rookie deal was set to expire after the 2024 season.