Lions fans won’t like Dan Campbell’s answer about a blockbuster trade — but listen to the second part
Campbell says he doesn’t foresee Detroit making a significant move, but his full answer left room for flexibility — and the Lions’ schedule creates an obvious window immediately after Buffalo.
The Detroit Lions, Dan Campbell, and a potential trade for Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Joey Porter Jr. have been linked together for weeks now. And on Tuesday, Campbell gave the most Dan Campbell answer possible when asked about making a significant move before the trade deadline.
Campbell was asked about making a significant move and he said, “I don’t see that happening. I would say this though, It gives us options.”
So there are two ways to look at this. The first is that Campbell just crushed your dreams and told you the Lions aren’t going to do anything. I can already tell how Lions fans are reacting. I put that tweet up and the comments were immediate. Fans are saying, what are you doing? Just go make a trade. Why won’t you do this? Calling Brad Holmes a bad GM. All of that.
What is Dan Campbell really going to say?
But here’s the thing. What is Dan Campbell going to say on a Tuesday presser two days before a game on Thursday? “Yeah, we plan to make a trade tomorrow. We’re totally doing something. We got a bunch of money and we’re gonna go do something with it. Here’s what team we want to call, and here’s who we’re going to try to trade with.”
I get the question. I would have asked a similar question. But it’s also one of those questions where you’re never going to get a true answer out of it. You can ask that question to Holmes, Campbell, Ray Agnew, anybody in the front office or on the coaching staff, and you’re always going to get an answer like “I don’t see that happening, but it gives us options” or “I don’t know, we’ll see.”
This was the biggest no/yes that I’ve ever seen. Or no/maybe.
The timeline makes sense for after Buffalo
At this point, I don’t expect the Lions to do anything this week. It’s Tuesday. Detroit has to play on Thursday. They’ve got practice, then a travel day, then the game against Buffalo. They’re not making a trade this week.
If they decide to do the Porter trade, which I believe they will do (I’m still sticking to that regardless of this statement from Campbell), the time to do it would be after Buffalo. The Lions have an extended period before they play the Jets. You’ve got that Friday, Saturday, Sunday where Detroit doesn’t play, doesn’t have to practice, doesn’t have to do anything. You could probably include Monday and Tuesday in that window too. So you’ve got four or five days where they’re doing walkthroughs at most before actual practice picks back up on Wednesday. Then you’ve got Wednesday, Thursday, Friday practice, and the Jets come to town on Sunday.
If the Lions were going to make this trade, next week would be the time. This coming weekend, specifically Friday, would be the time to do it.
Campbell gave the perfect media-trained answer
I know how some fans are going to react to this. But it’s a classic case of, what are you really going to say? “Yeah, we’re totally making a move right now, we’re making phone calls as we speak.” And then the rest of the league hears that and starts calling whatever team they know is involved. It’s just not one of those questions you’re ever going to get an honest answer to.
Campbell gave the perfect media-trained answer. It was kind of a no and a yes at the same time. Kind of a no and a maybe at the same time. The Lions are in a position they have not been in during the Holmes-Campbell era, with financial openings in both 2026 and 2027 and a roster good enough that you have to ask yourself whether you even need those high draft picks next year. There has never been a time that made more sense than right now.
We’ll see what happens.
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