We’re still thinking about the insane trade suggestion that former Michigan receiver Braylon Edwards came up with when he suggested the Detroit Lions trade Aidan Hutchinson to the Cleveland Browns for Myles Garrett.
The whole thing that led up to that insanity was a short discussion about the players they believed to be untouchable. The guys the Lions would never even entertain a trade for. That got us thinking about who would be on the actual list. So we made one.
Now, this list isn’t going to be long. We have to be realistic here. While there are players that we love and you love, we can’t say without a doubt that the Lions wouldn’t trade them if the package was right. Here’s who can’t be touched:
Penei Sewell
This guy isn’t going anywhere. The Lions started the foundation of what this team is today with this guy being the first building block of the whole damn thing. Sewell is not just one of the best tackles in football, he’s one of the best football players in the league period. You don’t move on from a guy like that no matter what is offered.
Amon-Ra St. Brown
When you think of grit and you think of what the Lions’ culture is, St. Brown is the first guy that comes to mind. He plays hurt and he plays sick and he refuses to come off the field for anything. He’s unselfish and he throws blocks and pumps up his teammates. The guy isn’t just one of the best receivers in the league, he is this team’s culture.
Jahmyr Gibbs
Gibbs is just insane. We know that finding a running back is supposed to be super easy these days and in a lot of ways, it is. But then there’s guys like Gibbs who you know can break off a huge run at any moment and can score 20-plus touchdowns in a season. He’s an offensive weapon that can allow this offense to do whatever it wants.
Frank Ragnow
The centerpiece of the Lions offensive line and part of the “old guard” as Dan Campbell calls it. He’s the best center in the league and another guy that you have to physically drag off the field if he gets hurt. Just A Dan Campbell guy to the core.
Jake Bates
I know it’s weird to see a kicker on here, but it is incredibly hard to find a kicker in the NFL right now. The Lions were one of the many teams struggling to find one before they got Bates. They don’t want to go back to that world.
Aidan Hutchinson
The cornerstone of the Lions’ defense. They see the plan and they see the future with this guy had he not broken his leg sacking Dak Prescott, he’d likely be on his way to winning the Defensive Player of the Year award on Saturday and he might even be playing in Sunday’s game. That’s how big of a deal he is to this team.
Kerby Joseph
The All-Pro safety isn’t just having a good season by luck. When you watch him play you see a guy that is just cerebrally good at this game. He is so smart out there and when you have guys like that, they’re just always good and getting better. You hold on to that.
That concludes the list. Now, just because guys aren’t on here, that doesn’t mean they’ll ever get traded. It just means that if the Lions got offered a deal that was too good to pass up, they’d get dealt away to get that trade package. The guys listed would get met with an immediate no and possibly an immediate dial tone.