5 players the Detroit Lions could trade during draft season

4. DT Levi Onwuzurike

By all accounts Onwuzurike made it through last season healthy, not even showing up on a daily injury report if memory serves. But he also hardly played, 132 defensive snaps over 10 regular season games, and he wasn't noticeable very often when he was on the field.

The severity of the back injury that cost the former second-round pick all of the 2022 season should not be discounted. He required spinal fusion surgery, and that's not something you probably ever totally recover back to previous condition from. He also had back issues dating back to his college career, and back issues in general are not usually something that just go away.

If the Lions draft a defensive tackle, and they very well might by the the end of Day 2, Onwuzurike's already small role from last season will be in peril. It's not his fault his NFL career has not turned out as hoped. But he may simply need a change of scenery to extend his career as long as possible.

3. OT Taylor Decker

Let's address the highly speculative elephant in the room. In a recent mock draft where he gave the Lions BYU offensive tackle Kingsley Suamataia at pick No. 29, Ian Valentino of The 33rd Team suggested there's "more buzz than anticipated" around the Lions possibly looking to replace Decker.

"There's more buzz around the Detroit replacing Taylor Decker's huge $19.1 million cap hit than anticipated, considering his talent. If Detroit wants to offload Decker this summer, Kingsley Suamataia has to be considered here. Suamataia is much like Decker as a prospect: He gets the job done more often than not and relies on great tools to win."

The apparent "buzz" has not surfaced anywhere else, and the team presumably shares Decker's sentiment about wanting to make him a career-long Lion. A contract extension to drop that $19.1 million 2024 cap hit this offseason is far more likely than a trade.

There's less than a one percent chance the Lions are even considering trading Decker this offseason, let alone that they'd actually do it. And if they did do it, they won't do it without knowing who will replace him at left tackle. At this point, the plan to replace him would only realistically come in the draft.

So if the Lions draft someone who could immediately replacement him (a huge "if"), Decker could then be a trade candidate if there's not been any traction in extension talks. There are a lot of "ifs" and "coulds" involved, but there's a faint path to Decker being dealt until the draft is over and someone who could replace him right away is or is not selected.