It’s common and even recommended among his kind right now, but Lions general manager Brad Holmes used plenty of words to say practically nothing on Thursday.
The Detroit Lions offseason program kicked off this week, and Thursday was essentially media day as players took turns at the podium. General manager Brad Holmes also had his pre-draft presser.
No coach or general manager is going to offer anything too meaningful a week before the draft. Buzzwords like “process” and “evaluation” and “we feel good” are commonplace, and some are better at using a lot of words to say precisely nothing than others.
Holmes generally comes off more straightforward than many who are in his job. But even he is not immune to what he has to say (and not say) right now.
Via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News, Holmes said calls from teams about the second overall pick have cooled off.
Brad Holmes all-in on GM-speak right now, as he has to be
"Actually, there hasn’t been a whole lot (of conversation) since the last time we spoke down at the annual meetings,” “I actually had a few dialogues before then, but not a whole lot. I do say that I think heading into this week and the early portion of next week, I do think there’s a possibility for some more chatter and some more dialogue could increase. But right now, there hasn’t been a whole lot.”"
Obviously the Lions are doing their best to be prepared for anything in this draft, with the most prominent thing being staying put at No. 2 or being compelled to trade down if the right offer comes. Holmes spoke about that too.
"Well, anything can happen at any day, I will say that,” “But it’s not just narrowing it down to your top two. You better have your top five, you better have your top 10 in place, because you just don’t know what’s going to happen each day. We do have it narrowed down, and we feel confident where we’re at with how we have it pared down. We’ll just let the process unfold.”"
So trade talks around the No. 2 pick have cooled off, but apparently weren’t a “whole lot” to begin with (not too surprising, without a perceived slam-dunk quarterback prospect in this class). And the Lions have a process, which includes keeping all options open (naturally).
Holmes had a bit more to say on other topics during his Thursday presser, but generally didn’t say a heck of a lot to sink teeth into. But that’s the season we’re in. Thankfully it will come to an end, and meaningful draft things will come in less than a week.