As he has been known to do, Detroit Lions’ general manager Brad Holmes shook things up when he drafted Utah prospect Sione Vaki in the fourth-round of the 2024 NFL Draft. For one, he traded up to pick 132 to draft Vaki—his third such move of the weekend. Secondly, Holmes made it clear that he was selecting Vaki as a running back and not a safety. Vaki apparently wasn’t aware of a single other NFL team interested in him as a full-time running back.
Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press wrote about how Vaki’s transition to running back in college by talking to Vaki’s running backs coach in college, Quinton Ganther
“The crazy thing is how effortlessly he caught the football,” Ganther said in an interview with the Free Press.