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Detroit Lions trade former first rounder to the 49ers

By Steven Mullenax

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 30: Laken Tomlinson of the Duke Blue Devils holds up a jersey with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #28 overall by the Detroit Lions during the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on April 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 30: Laken Tomlinson of the Duke Blue Devils holds up a jersey with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #28 overall by the Detroit Lions during the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University on April 30, 2015 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
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The Detroit Lions trade their first round selection from the 2015 NFL Draft to the San Francisco 49ers for a future fifth round pick on Thursday.

One of the side effects of the NFL removing the 75-man roster cut down day has been more trades during this final two weeks of the preseason. Teams that are hoping to secure a fringe player on another roster are willing to trade rather risk that player hitting the waiver wire. And the Detroit Lions are no different.

By this Saturday, NFL teams must cut down their rosters from 90-players to just 53. That leaves a whopping 37 players per franchise either in free agency or on the waiver wire. To get ahead of the madness, teams are willing to trade to get the guy they want.

So, the Lions have taken advantage of that fact and traded a former first round bust to the San Francisco 49ers. Detroit has sent the 28th overall selection in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft, offensive guard Laken Tomlinson, to the Niners for a 2019 fifth round selection.

Tomlinson never lived up to his hype coming out of Duke, despite starting in 24 of his 32 games in two years for the Motor City at both the guard and tackle positions. The 25-year old will now try to resurrect his career in San Francisco while the Lions get a bit of compensation for a player that they were likely going to release in the next couple of days.

But the move isn’t exactly a win for Detroit, as they used a first round selection on Tomlinson just two years ago. By now, he should be a stalwart on the team’s offensive line instead of packing his bags for the west coast.

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The Detroit Lions will move forward with second-year Graham Glasgow manning the starting left guard position over Laken Tomlinson, who lost that role to him last season. This trade reportedly gives the Lions more than $12 million in salary cap space, which the team can use to address other areas of need on their roster or possibly help them sign pass rusher Ezekiel Ansah to an extension.

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