Pride of Detroit
Our staff makes their pick for the most valuable selection made in the Detroit Lions’ 2025 NFL Draft.
The Detroit Lions’ 2025 draft wasn’t really about value. Detroit was aggressive in grabbing three top-70 players, trading up twice with negative trade value. No one will care if the players they grabbed hit, but by some metrics Detroit’s picks quite literally had the lowest value in the league.
Regardless, that wasn’t necessarily true for all of the Lions’ seven picks in the 2025 NFL Draft. So in the latest edition of our draft recap roundtable, our staff made their picks for the most valuable selection made over the weekend.
Previous roundtables:
Erik Schlitt: Milez Frazier
Most draft analysts viewed Frazier as having third-round value—Daniel Jeremiah even ranked him No. 61 on his final draft board—so for the Lions to land him with pick No. 171 looks like massive value. Frazier may end up being OG4 on this roster, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he starts a game or two when injuries occur.
Al Karsten: Miles Frazier
Frazier already brings the size, demeanor, and punch that offensive line coach Hank Fraley covets, and his pass protection chops should let him hit the ground running. Fraley can clean up the technical stuff—but Frazier had no business falling this far. Picks like this are a reminder that Brad Holmes might be an evil genius operating at the expense of the rest of the league.
Brandon Knapp: Miles Frazier
While I wasn’t initially excited about the pick, due to the team already taking Tate Rutledge, the fact that they got a top-100 player in Frazier in the fifth round (and for a very fair trade up) is amazing. Frazier can be a future starter, too.
Max Gerber: Miles Frazier
Miles Frazier was one of my favorite guards in this draft class, and I was shocked to see him fall to the end of the fifth round when many analysts had him going in the third or fourth. Detroit landed a starting-caliber player with NFL-ready size and intangibles in a spot where most teams wouldn’t. They obviously knew he was a great value pick as well, since they traded a sixth and seventh-round pick to move up and take him.
John Whiticar: Miles Frazier
Had the Lions not selected Tate Ratledge, I would have viewed this pick as the Lions getting a starting guard in the fifth round—an absolute steal. With Ratledge competing with Christian Mahogany and Graham Glasgow, I think Frazier has a difficult (but not impossible) path to the starting lineup, but even if he is a mere backup, he projects as an elite one. I would have been fine with Frazier in the third round, so securing additional...
