(WXYZ) — The second day of the NFL Draft has wrapped up in Kansas City and the Detroit Lions made some major moves, jumping around the draft order all night long.
The Lions started the night with the No. 34, No. 48, and No. 55 overall picks. You can track all the moves they made below.
No. 34 (Third pick of the second round)
With their first pick of the second round and the 34th pick overall, the Lions selected Sam LaPorta, a tight end who played for the Iowa Hawkeyes.
In his final season at Iowa, LaPorta was named the Kwalick–Clark Tight End of the Year by the Big 10 conference. He was also named first-team All-Big Ten by league coaches and media.
For his college career, LaPorta had 153 catches for 1,786 yards and 5 touchdowns. In 2022 he played in 12 games, netting 58 catches for 657 yards and 1 touchdown.
No. 45 (traded up with Green Bay for the 48th and 159 picks)
After trading up to number 45, the Lions selected Alabama safety Brian Branch with their second pick of the second round.
During his career with the Crimson Tide, Branch had 111 solo tackles, for a total of 172. 19.5 of those tackles were for loss. He had 4 sacks, 3 interceptions, 23 passes defended, and 1 fumble recovery.
In 2022, Branch had 58 solo tackles, 90 total, 14.0 tackles for loss, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, and 7 passes defended.
Round 3 - No. 68
After trading twice in the second round, the Lions traded down to the 3rd round in a trade with Denver and took Tennessee Quarterback Hendon Hooker.
The move sets up a QB battle with Jared Goff for who will be the starting quarterback when the team takes the field in the fall.
Hooker finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman trophy in his final season, during which he played 11 games. He had 229 completions on 329 attempts, for a 69.6 percent completion percentage. He passed for 3,135 passing yards, with 27 passing touchdowns, and 430 rushing yards, with 5 touchdowns. He threw 2 interceptions. His career ended against South Carolina, during which he suffered a torn ACL.
For his career, which included three season at Virginia Tech, he played 45 games with 632 completions on 944 attempts for a 66.9 completion percentage. He had a total of 8,974 yards, 80 touchdowns, 12 interceptions, as well as 1,046 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdowns.
No. 96 (traded the 122nd, 139th, and 168th overall picks to the Arizona Cardinals)
The Lions made one more trade to come back in at the end of the third round to pick Brodric Martin, a Defensive Tackle from Western Kentucky.
In two seasons as a Hilltopper and two at North Alabama, Martin had 70 tackles, 30 of them solo. He had 4 career sacks and one forced fumble.
Martin started all 14 games for the Hilltoppers in his final season at WKU.
