With the No. 12 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft, the Detroit Lions selected Alabama RB Jahmyr Gibbs. It was an unexpected move and a final endpoint for one of the most traded draft picks of all time.
The Lions wound up with the No. 12 pick in a trade Thursday night. Lions GM Brad Holmes engineered a move back to No. 12 in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals and their rookie GM, Monti Ossenfort.
Lions-Cardinals trade
Detroit dealt No. 6 and No. 81 (3rd round) to Arizona for No. 12, No. 34 (2nd round) and No. 168 (5th round)
The pick had only belonged to the Cardinals for about an hour. Ossenfort had just acquired the No. 12 pick in a trade back from No. 3 overall with the Houston Texans. Houston moved up from the 12th pick to select Alabama EDGE Will Anderson.
Cardinals-Texans trade
The Texans traded No. 12, No. 33 (2nd round), a first-round pick in 2024 and also a third-rounder in ’24. Arizona sent back No. 3 overall and a fourth-rounder this year, No. 105 overall.
But the No. 12 pick wasn’t originally Houston’s, either. The Texans acquired the pick from the Cleveland Browns in the 2022 trade between the two teams. You might know that better as the Deshaun Watson trade.
Texans-Browns trade
Back in March of 2022, the Texans traded disgraced QB Deshaun Watson to the Browns for a massive haul of picks that includes the No. 12 spot.
Houston traded Watson and a 2024 sixth-round pick to Cleveland for three first-round picks (2022, 2023, 2024), a 2022 fourth-round pick, a 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 fourth-rounder. The Texans used the fourth-rounder last year on RB Dameon Pierce, who played well in Houston as a rookie.
It’s quite the paper trail from Deshaun Watson to Jahmyr Gibbs, but that’s how the Lions wound up with the Alabama running back.
