Getty Former New York Jets wide receiver Denzel Mims reacting in the middle of an NFL game.
The New York Jets officially traded away wide receiver Denzel Mims late on Wednesday, July 19 to the Detroit Lions.
Gang Green packaged Mims and a 2025 seventh-round draft choice in exchange for a 2025 conditional sixth-rounder.
According to NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero, the condition on that pick swap is on whether or not the former Baylor product makes the Lions’ 53-man roster.
Mims Has a Real Chance of Making the Lions Roster
Obviously, things didn’t work out for Mims or the Jets for that matter.
He was a highly touted player coming out of the 2020 NFL draft but he never lived up to the hype. Instead of holding onto him for a handful of weeks and facing an inevitable cut, the Jets traded him to a place where he will have a chance.
More than you could’ve said here in New York.
J. Gray believes that Mims “should” make the final 53-man roster “with all of the [gambling] suspensions.”
Three Lions wideouts were suspended by the NFL back in April “for violations of the league’s gambling policy,” per Kevin Patra of NFL.com.
Jameson Williams, Quintez Cephus, and Stanley Berryhill. Williams and Berryhill were handed six-game suspensions ahead of the 2023 season. Cephus was “suspended indefinitely and can apply for reinstatement after the 2023 season,” per Patra.
The Lions quickly decided to move on from both Cephus and Berryhill due to the suspensions.
One man’s misfortune can be another man’s opportunity. That will be exactly what Mims is hoping for in Detroit.
This is the ultimate win-win for the Lions.
If Mims takes advantage of his new opportunity and makes the team it only cost Detroit a late-round pick swap.
If he doesn’t gel with his new team and struggles to make the transition, then the Lions will cut bait.
That would essentially cancel the trade terms because the condition on the pick is based on him making the roster in September.
Low-risk versus high-reward, what’s not to like?
Happy that the Lions are rolling the dice on Denzel Mims. He’ll provide depth and will get an opportunity in Detroit. Maybe he takes the DJ Chark role from a season ago?
If he can stay healthy, he could figure it out and produce.
This isn’t the first time that this Lions…
Russell Brown, who covers the Lions and the NFL draft, said he’s “happy” that Detroit is “rolling the dice on Denzel Mims.”
New Opportunities for Several Jets Youngsters
The timing of this Mims trade was bizarre from a Jets perspective.
If they wanted to deal him away at the beginning of training camp then clearly they had no plans to have him as a legitimate piece of the 2023 roster.
Rivka Boord of Jets X-Factor told me on “The Boy Green Show” that if the Jets wanted to do him a solid they should have traded him earlier in the offseason to give him a better chance of making a roster.
Nonetheless, Mims is now gone which is good news for some of the younger players at the wide receiver position for the Jets.
Connor Rogers of “Badlands” said this trade will mean “more reps” for undrafted free agent wideout Jason Brownlee “who had a promising spring.”
Gang Green has several intriguing young players at the bottom of the depth chart that could make some noise in camp.