In an offseason that has seen quarterbacks and linemen switching jerseys nearly every other day, the Detroit Lions have been one of the few teams seemingly standing still. Apart from the Carlton Davis loss and D.J. Reed addition, the Lions have not made a major splash.
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Brad Holmes was recently interviewed on the Tim Twentyman-hosted “Twentyman in the Huddle” podcast, during which he discussed the Lions’ offseason moves. The key words for the team’s movements were quite clear: patience and discipline.
Holmes and the Lions have prioritizing bringing back the team's own free agents. This strategy was not fully intentional, though, as Holmes revealed to Twentyman.
“Like I was saying, we didn’t come in with the idea of let's just bring our guys back, but when you start stacking our guys versus the rest of the league, it just kind of made sense,” the fifth-year general manager expressed.
One of the main reasons cited for this was knowing that a player’s character fit the culture of the Lions.
“We really did (feel good about the roster last year),” Holmes said. “When we say we know a guy, we mean what kind of guy they are in the locker room, you know what kind of teammate they are, what their reliability factor is. You know how they are when adversity comes and how they are going to respond to adversity. You know what their work ethic is, all those components come into ‘I know this guy.’”
This was the deciding factor for Holmes with the majority of the re-signings over fresh faces.
In regard to a player being a culture fit, Holmes expressed, “You might not always have those details on those external guys, but hope that you can find out enough, through when they came out of college or there might be a coach that might be on staff that might have been with that player. You try to get as much as you can, but I always say about a player’s football character, (it) often shows on film.”
A player’s football character showing on film was the reason that Reed and Grant Stuard are now in Honolulu Blue, per Holmes. He said, “That would be the case with a D.J. Reed, you know, his intangibles speak on tape. A (Grant) Stuard, from Indy, his intangibles speak on tape. That’s what makes you feel really good about it.”
As some may note, this strategy differs from earlier years of the Holmes regime. However, part of that is due to the locker room structure and successful previous drafts. The Lions are now in a position to keep their talent in house, and to save money for more extensions, such as for All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph.
That is why the Lions did not tackle the need for a star pass-rusher, with Holmes comparing it to financial planning.
“That is when it comes to the discipline of the 529 (plan), that’s the mortgage,” Holmes told Twentyman. “We really can’t take the vacation we really want right now, or we might have to scale down the vacation. Still, I was thrilled with what we were able to do in this free agency, because we still did more than I thought we were going to do.”
When it came down to the coaching moves, Holmes had full faith in Dan Campbell, despite the numerous holes on the coaching staff to replace.
“Obviously, we had more of what we have had to replenish this past year, that comes along with the success. I thought Dan did an amazing job of displaying patience and just making sure he didn’t just rush,” Holmes said. “He didn’t panic and just get a guy. Fit is everything for us, and he wanted to make sure that we got guys that fit who we are and what we’re about. Along those lines of fit, they happen to be really good coaches.”
As far as the main attraction left in the offseason, the NFL Draft was clearly on Brad Holmes’ mind. Holmes called the NFL Draft a “safehouse” compared to free agency’s “haunted house.”
While the defensive line is widely believed to be the “most loaded it has been in perhaps a decade,” per Twentyman, that does not play into Holmes and Campbell’s mindset.
Holmes told Twentyman, “Me and Dan are about ‘let’s get the guy we love.’ We aren’t about position.”
Holmes also revealed the one time he and Campbell went with a ‘thinner’ position over one they wanted. It came during their inaugural draft together in 2021, when they took Alim McNeill early and then circled back to Amon-Ra St. Brown. That plan certainly seemed to work out.
While Holmes was pretty tight-lipped about the draft itself, he did express, “This year, the defensive line depth is pretty good. We’ll just see how it goes. We feel good about it, but we try not to let that affect well, let’s just get a defensive lineman later. That’s the fascination of the draft, you say wait until later, and later, there is none left. Everybody’s picked. You have to go by feel, but it’s all about the preparation.”
If there is any head coach-general manager combo to trust in when it comes to NFL Draft preparation, it’s become more and more clear it’s the Campbell-Holmes duo in the Motor City.
