Editor’s note: The video above aired April 21, ahead of the draft.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Detroit Lions have made their second trade of the night and used their newly acquired pick to take a West Michigan native.
With the 70th pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Lions drafted Arkansas wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa. The Unity Christian alum started his college career with three years at Hillsdale before transferring to the SEC program.
Like second-round draft pick Tate Ratledge, TeSlaa’s athleticism tested very high at the NFL Scouting Combine. The 6-foot-4 receiver ran the 40-yard dash in 4.43 seconds, and his “relative athletic score” was rated as a 9.97 out of 10, putting him 11th among 3,441 wide receivers tested since 1997.
In his two years with the Razorbacks, TeSlaa racked up 62 catches for 896 yards and five total touchdowns.
NFL.com analyst Lance Zierlein called him a “big slot receiver” whose stock rose after a stellar performance during Senior Bowl week.
“He can mismatch smaller cornerbacks with his frame and play strength and is a reliable pass catcher when contested,” Zierlein wrote. “He builds up speed as a vertical slot but isn’t sudden enough to simply uncover as a possession slot against tight man. TeSlaa’s ball skills and ability to work down field from the slot should carry backup value for teams in the market for help at receiver.”
TeSlaa appeared at his former high school earlier this week to sign autographs and take pictures with fans.
“I’m super excited and I feel great,” TeSlaa said. “I’ve been looking forward to this day since I was a little kid, and I never knew if this was going to happen for me growing up. To be in this situation and in front of all my community is something special.”
He noted that he spoke with representatives from all 32 teams and had a few pre-draft visits, including a stop in Detroit where he met with general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell.
“The Lions visit was sweet,” TeSlaa said. “I’ve been a Lions fan my whole life so to be able to go to that facility and meet with the coaches that I’ve been watching the past couple years was pretty cool.”
Arkansas wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa runs a drill at the NFL football scouting combine in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
TeSlaa was a quarterback in the Wing-T offense at Unity Christian but converted to wide receiver at Hillsdale. His dad also played wide receiver at Hillsdale and helped teach him about the nuances of the position.
“We kind of knew that he was probably built more for being a wide receiver than a quarterback just coming from the Wing-T,” Mark TeSlaa told News 8. “There were lots of YouTube videos we were watching, and I was watching specifically: What do receivers need to learn and what type of football work do they do? … We would set up cones in the backyard and he would do all the different drills that I had set up. All of them involved catching the football.”
The Lions sent two additional third round picks from next year’s draft to Jacksonville to move up from No. 102 to No. 70 to take TeSlaa. In return, the Lions will get a sixth-round pick (No. 182) as well as Jacksonville’s sixth-round pick from next year’s draft.
TeSlaa is the Lions’ third pick of the 2025 Draft. The Lions also made a trade to move up to take Georgia right guard Tate Ratledge at pick No. 57. They took Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams in the first round.
Following the trades, the Lions now have two sixth-round picks and three seventh-round picks remaining in the 2025 NFL Draft.
