Charley Casserly had two deals worked out before the 1999 NFL draft and one target he was trying to get — Georgia cornerback Champ Bailey.

Washington’s general manager at the time, Casserly stumbled into a pre-draft trade that was too good to pass up when the New Orleans Saints offered their entire draft, plus first- and third-round picks the following year, to move up seven spots to the No. 5 pick in the first round.

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The deal was contingent on Ricky Williams being available, and once it was agreed upon a few hours before the draft started, Casserly worked the phones trying to find a trading partner to move back up.

He struck a deal with the Chicago Bears at No. 7, hoping to get Bailey, his No. 1-ranked player in the entire draft, but knowing he had a fallback in Arizona cornerback Chris McAlister just in case.

Williams slipped to No. 5 after Edgerrin James went fourth overall to the Indianapolis Colts. The Saints swapped picks with Washington to go up and grab Williams. And when the Los Angeles Rams took Torry Holt one pick later, Casserly suddenly found himself in a squeeze.

“We get on the phone with Chicago, now Chicago tries to stick it to us and they want another pick, they want another third,” Casserly, now an analyst with NFL Network, recalled. “We give them the other third. Not happy about it, but we did it.”

The reason? Casserly thought Bailey was a rare difference maker at cornerback, a two-way college player with blazing speed, extraordinary ball skills and limitless potential.

Twenty-one years later, with Bailey enshrined in the Hall of Fame, Casserly’s evaluation was spot on, and so, too, it appears was his theory that could factor into the Lions’ draft day decision this week: It’s never too early to draft a defensive back if it’s the right defensive back.

Just seven cornerbacks have gone higher than Bailey since that 1999 draft, and the vast majority of those have been hits, accounting for 15 Pro Bowls and 127 career interceptions.

Quentin Jammer, the No. 5 pick in 2002, played 12 seasons with the San Diego Chargers. Terence Newman, the No. 5 pick a year later, retired in 2018 after a 16-year career. Pacman Jones, the sixth pick in 2005, was an All-Pro kick returner and starting cornerback.

And more recently, top-five picks Patrick Peterson (No. 5 in 2011), Jalen Ramsey (No. 5 in 2016) and Denzel Ward (No. 4 in 2018) have ranked among the top players at their position in the NFL.

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Even the lone bust of the group, Morris Claiborne, the No. 6 pick in 2012, won a Super Bowl as a backup with the Kansas City Chiefs in February.

“I’m not sure why teams have shied away (from taking cornerbacks high),” Lions general manager Bob Quinn said in his pre-draft video conference last week. “I think it’s a position that’s obviously critical and has high value in the league. Really, when you look at corners, basically you have three corners that are starters in professional football now. We go back to free agency a year ago, we signed Justin Coleman to play nickel and we paid him like a starter because we feel like you need three starting level corners to have a productive defense. So why teams have shied away? I can’t really answer that.”

No cornerback has gone in the top three since Shawn Springs in 1997, but as the NFL has become more of a passing league, teams have started to value the position more highly.

Two cornerbacks, Ramsey and Ward, have gone in the top five in the last four drafts, and the Lions could make cornerback Jeff Okudah, from Springs’ alma matter, Ohio State, the No. 3 overall pick this week.

“Go back to when John Elway or Dan Marino played versus what’s going on today,” ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit said. “I just feel like every year that passes it’s more and more about the perimeter. It’s more and more about the one-on-one matchup. And I think if you don’t have people who can win one-on-one, or if you don’t have people who can cover that second or third DB, or corner, you’ve got to find corners.”

The Lions, coming off a season in which they ranked last in the NFL in pass defense and then traded their best cornerback to the Philadelphia Eagles, are in a spot where they need cornerback help, and Okudah just so happens to fit their system.

He’s a physical, press-man corner with the size and ball skills the Lions covet. He has drawn comparisons to future Hall of Famer Darrelle Revis for his coverage ability. He plays a more valuable position — cornerback ranks alongside edge rusher and offensive tackle as the second most important position in the sport, behind quarterback — than other players the Lions are considering in Round 1 like defensive tackle Derrick Brown and linebacker Isaiah Simmons. And last year, in his first full season as a starter, he allowed just a 45.3 passer rating on balls thrown his direction, according to Pro Football Focus.

“I always say with corners, if you can’t find the ball in college, most times those guys can’t find the ball in the NFL,” NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said. “This kid can find and play the football. He’s got really good awareness and, again, I think the other trait with top cornerbacks when you study them around the league at the NFL level is there’s kind of a dog to them, there’s a competitiveness to them, there’s a toughness to them, an edge. And I think this kid plays with that type of toughness and competitiveness on the field. He’s fun to watch.”

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Jeremiah ranks Okudah the No. 4 player in the draft and said he’s worth the third overall pick, if the Lions opt to take him there.

Quinn wouldn’t tip his hand on whether he’ll go Okudah in the first round, saying last week it’s a deep cornerback class and that taking one that high has “to make sense for your club.”

Casserly, who also made Notre Dame cornerback Tom Carter a first-round pick with Washington in 1993, said Okudah does that for the Lions.

“It comes down to between him and Derrick Brown,” Casserly said. “But I would take Okudah because he’d be my highest-rated player.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Read more on the Detroit Lions and sign up for our Lions newsletter.