Jets reportedly trade second-round bust Denzel Mims to Lions, who needed WR depth after gambling suspensions
The Detroit Lions are refilling their wide receiver corps with a second chance for Denzel Mims.
The New York Jets traded the former second-round wide receiver plus a 2025 seventh-round pick to Detroit on Wednesday in exchange for a conditional 2025 sixth-rounder, according to NFL Network's Mike Garafalo.
There were reports earlier Wednesday the Jets were planning to waive Mims if they couldn't find a deal, so they were at least able to get something rather than nothing.
Mims, whom the Jets drafted 59th overall out of Baylor in the 2020 NFL Draft, will go down as one of the team's bigger draft busts under current general manager Joe Douglas (non-Zach Wilson category). He looked somewhat promising after an injury-shortened rookie season in which he posted 357 receiving yards in nine games, but proceeded to record only 19 catches and 319 yards on 48 targets in the next two seasons.
He will leave the Meadowlands looking for his first career touchdown.
The Lions make sense as a destination for Mims given the team lost three wide receivers — Jameson Williams, Quintez Cephus and Stanley Berryhill — to suspensions over violations of the league's gambling policy. The team has since waived Cephus and Berryhill, while Williams will be out until Week 7 this year.
Expectations for Mims are likely still low despite his draft pedigree given the Lions got him for seemingly the cheapest draft pick price possible, but he remains only 25 years old with good size and speed at 6-foot-3 and a 4.38 40-yard dash. There are worse dice rolls.
Wherever Mims goes from here, the Jets giving up on him does add to the unfortunate history of Baylor wide receivers in the NFL. Here's the complete list of players from that school and position who have been taken in the first three rounds of the NFL Draft since 2012:
Kendall Wright, 2012, 12th overall
Terrance Williams, 2017, 74th overall
Corey Coleman, 2016, 15th overall
Jalen Hurd, 2019, 67th overall
Denzel Mims, 2020, 59th overall
Tyquan Thornton, 2022, 50th overall.
No player in that group has made a Pro Bowl, and only one, Wright, has posted a 1,000-yard season.
