Brad Holmes leaves Matthew Stafford’s future in Detroit cloudy
The new regime for the Detroit Lions is starting to take shape. That after weeks of reported interviews and interest following the firing of both general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia in late November.
Last week, the Lions hired Brad Holmes to assume the vacant role of general manager. Detroit is reportedly going to announce the hiring of Dan Campbell as head coach soon. And the team appears to be closing in on a deal that will make Aaron Glenn the Lions’ next defensive coordinator.
While more coaches will likely be hired in the coming days, questions still linger about the future of quarterback Matthew Stafford in Detroit. That’s despite the 32-year old being under contract for the next two years in the Motor City.
Here’s what Holmes said about Stafford during his opening press conference on Tuesday.
"“Matthew [Stafford], great player. And what you really appreciate is, I think the talent level is easy to see. But you really appreciate how his intangibles show on film. Just how urgent he plays. How competitive he is. The toughness that he shows … I have not had any discussions with Matt or any players for that matter. I just want to be fair to the process and make sure we evaluate that throughly.”"
The fact the new general manager of the Lions hasn’t talked to the team’s franchise quarterback in his first five days in office might seem suspicious. Yet, this is the offseason and Holmes is a first-time general manager who’s in the process of packing up his life and moving across the country after 18 years spent with the Los Angeles Rams organization.
Still, it’s hard to believe there haven’t been deep discussions about the team’s most valuable and important player. In fact, according to Albert Breer of MMQB, Holmes gave a brutally honest assessment of the Lions roster during his job interview with the team and offered a bold plan to retool it.
As the Rams’ former director of college scouting, Holmes relies heavily on analytics and has extensive experience implementing technology into his evaluation process. So it seems very likely that he’s still gathering information to make the most informed decision possible. And actually speaking with Stafford is apparently low on that priority list.
By the end of Brad Holmes’ introductory press conference, the questions surrounding the Detroit Lions roster and Matthew Stafford’s future in the Motor City remain unanswered. Although no one expected Holmes to reveal any information about those ongoing internal discussions, he did display a level of savvy in the way he navigated the question. And that tells us a little something about the man the Lions hired to navigate them into a new era.