The NFL trade deadline is rapidly approaching and with that comes trade rumors. We’ve heard a lot of rumors about players from other teams being on the trade block, but we haven’t heard anything about a Detroit Lions player until Wednesday night.
Spotrac’s Michael Ginnitti put out a list of players that he is hearing are rumored to be on the trade block this year. The Lions had one player on the list and that is edge rusher Julian Okwara.
This makes a lot of sense. The Lions are pretty set on the edge right now and the younger Okwara brother has Aidan Hutchinson, John Cominsky, Charles Harris and his brother Romeo all in front of him. He couldn’t get past them at camp and he’s probably going to have that same problem now.
Another issue is that Josh Paschal is back at practice this week and James Houston is eligible to start his 21 day clock now. That would be two more guys that would prevent Okwara from getting some significant snaps.
There should be some other teams interested. At one point there were rumors that the New York Giants fell in love with him during joint practices and their preseason game with the Lions this summer.
Earlier this week I proposed that the Lions make a trade with the Giants to bring in cornerback Adoree’ Jackson. Here’s a deal that could be made. The Lions send Okwara and and a late round pick to the Giants for Jackson and everyone leaves happy.
Okwara made his return to the Lions this past Sunday and got the teams only sack of the game late in the 4th quarter. There’s some value there. Let’s see if the Lions try to sell that value.
We’ll keep an eye on this situation and update you as soon as something, or nothing, happens.