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The NFL likes to keep the first round of the draft going at a consistent pace, to give the TV show enough time to discuss each pick. The Lions were so eager to draft Aidan Hutchinson on Thursday night that they threw off the pace.
One Lions official told Peter King in this week’s Football Morning in America that within a minute of the Jaguars officially making Travon Walker the first overall pick, the Lions turned in the card to officially make Hutchinson the second overall pick.
“We turned the card in so fast the league got mad at us,” the Lions official said.
The Lions were widely believed to have Hutchinson atop their draft board, and Hutchinson — who grew up in the Detroit area and played his college football at Michigan — wanted to play for the Lions. It was an easy match to make. Perhaps too easy for the NFL’s draft broadcast to give proper time to talking about the Jaguars taking Walker before turning the discussion to the Lions and Hutchinson.
