Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes spoke to NFL Network's 'The Insiders' from the Indianapolis Convention Center, and touched on Aidan Hutchinson's rehab, the challenges of extending so many top draft picks and the impact of the numerous injuries on the 2024 season.
Here is everything Holmes told NFL reporter Mike Garafolo.
You got changes at the coordinator position. But guys that you're familiar with. How do you make sure that they keep the continuity of what you've had on both sides of the ball, that's been so successful?
"Yeah, I really thought that Dan did an excellent job and replenished two great coordinators that left, that were great coaches that I know are going to be successful. But to get a Kelvin Sheppard -- that has been with us since Day One and basically has been, let's call it groomed from Day One to be that next guy, he's ready for sure. He's been right under AG's (Aaron Glenn's) wing this whole time. AG and Dan (Campbell) as well, just to be in a position to do that. And then John Morton, when he was with us, that was the time where we basically built that offensive system. He already has a continuity. He already knows that it all starts with Jared and the quarterback. They have a relationship previously already. So, I don't see us missing a beat there."
You've built this team in the image that you wanted this team to be in. You've got a lot of guys now that you're going to have to start to turn around and need to be rewarded. I mean, these are good problems!
“It’s good problems to have, but you turn around and you look back, and it’s like, ‘There’s a bill to pay.’ In the moment, it’s like, ‘Oh, you got Penei Sewell, and you got two first-round picks (in 2022), and you got two firsts again and you’ve got two second-round picks (in 2023) that basically grade as two (first-round picks).’ It’s like, 'Hold on, that’s seven first-round picks that we all like, seven graded first-round picks that we all like.' It’s like, we’d like to keep those guys around. But then you have Kerby Joseph in the third round, Amon-Ra St. Brown in the fourth round. It starts to add up. It changes some of the decisions that you would like to do in free agency. We’ve already started that work, and that preparation to make those necessary adjustments. But yeah, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.”
You lose an Aidan Hutchinson when he goes down. You can't replace that. How much did that hurt last year?
Look, as a GM, you know that attrition is coming. You know that the injuries are coming. And that's why you really just kind of hammer out depth, depth, depth. But, you just hate it for the players. Like Aidan, I don't think anybody would argue that before he got hurt, he was he was on a Defensive Player of the Year potential track kind of a season. But look, I'm not worried about Aidan, in terms of, man, he's attacking his rehab. He's ahead of schedule as well. We all know he had a serious injury at the University of Michigan that knocked him out for a while. And he came back an even better player. We were actually talking about that in the training room after his injury. We're all on the same page. And I have no doubt that he's going to continue his ascent."
When you're looking for a Lions type of guy, what are you looking for? Can you see it here? Is it mostly on the tape? I mean, can you look into it, guys eyes and see it? Because you have done a good job of getting the guys that fit your culture.
"Yeah first, I'll give a lot of credit to our area scouts, that have done a lot of research already before we got to this point. We already kind of have an idea from an intangible background standpoint of the guys that we think that we would like to acquire. But yeah, to get them in this setting kind of to get a feel of the person, their intelligence, all that stuff to see if it matches up or if it doesn't match up. And so, it's just, you got to keep stacking like bricks and you got to just keep stacking. And it's a little bit like a puzzle, too. And sometimes the pieces doesn't match at some point. And you either got to do more work or you got to go to the next player. But, give a lot of credit to our scouts already for the work that they've done to get us to this point, to identify some guys. And then, we just kind of see, we've got to keep stacking the bricks."
I gotta imagine your head coach is a big part of that, because he can sniff that out as well. How much feedback does he give you throughout the process that is invaluable to you?
"Me and Dan are in lockstep with this roster! One hundred percent. And you know, whether it's free agency or the draft. I mean, just before we even came out here, we were just kind of going through guys that he looked at independently, I looked at them independently. And we're just matching them up to see who we liked. But, it's the same thing with the draft. One thing, really special coaches that are really good evaluators, I always thought that's a really key, critical trait to have for a head coach. And Dan is one of those guys that has a true keen eye for evaluation. But us being in alignment, in terms of our vision and what fits for a Lion, has helped tremendously."
