Brad Holmes: Tyleik Williams Was Detroit Lions 'Top Target'

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes revealed there were moments of concern Thursday evening the team might not be able to land their top target in the draft.

“I will say, it got a little tight toward there kind of leading up to our pick," said general manager Brad Holmes. "The run that we were hoping to see happen didn’t happen as early as we might have thought, but it did come. It kind of came in the middle of the round, and then once that run happened, we felt a lot better about being able to land him. It was a handful of guys, but he was our top target.”

Williams impressed the coaching staff and personnel department at the scouting combine, where he spent time interacting with many of the Lions brass.

“Obviously, super excited with how everything went tonight, to be able to acquire Tyleik (Williams). I’ve obviously been watching him for a really long time," said Holmes. "He’s played a lot of football there at a very consistent level, and he just has a lot of traits and qualities that we’re looking for, and he’s going to fit right in here like a glove. We spent a lot of time with him during the process leading up to this, and we were very, very impressed after each time that we were able to spend time with him.”

Ahead of Detroit, teams were willing to trade down and the Falcons made the decision to trade down with the New York Giants, who moved up to No. 25 to select quarterback Jaxson Dart.

"We do a lot of work beforehand – what our team needs and all of that. We have all of that information, so when you see a team that has a need at IDL or something and they start trading up, or they might be calling you to trade," said Holmes. "And then you see just maybe that one left up there, and you’re kind of like, 'Eh, don’t feel great about that. Just getting a little thin.' There was a lot of -- I don’t want to say panic, but there was a little anxiety there. A little anxiety there, the breathing got a little irregular at times, but we’re thrilled with how it panned out."

More from Detroit Lions OnSI