Lions GM Brad Holmes deviated from his previous mode with Jameson Williams

Special circumstances require adjusting previous ways, and that’s what Lions general manager Brad Holmes did with Jameson Williams.

The Detroit Lions pulled off one of the surprising and bold moves in the first round of April’s draft when the traded up from No. 32 to No. 12 to get wide receiver Jameson Williams. General manager Brad Holmes previously revealed the aggressive plan to move up to get Williams.

Sometimes you identify someone who’s “your guy” in a draft, and just go get him.

But Holmes had to make an adjustment to his previous approach.

The Lions were the lead subject of Peter King’s “Football Morning In America” column this week. King relayed a story about Holmes from when he visited the team.

"Holmes, in almost two decades with the Rams climbing the scouting ladder, adopted this drafting mantra: Don’t pick hurt guys in the first round. Too risky. Williams played just one season at Alabama after transferring from Ohio State, but his 19.9-yards-per-catch average on 79 catches vaulted him to strong first-round candidate as 2022 dawned. But on Jan. 10, in the national title game, Williams tore his ACL.I had Jameson in his own box,” Holmes said. “You want to be as sure as possible with first-round players, of course, and I was absolutely convicted on Jameson … the speed, how fluid he was, how confident he played. I consulted with our medial team, and they felt it was a clean ACL tear.So now I had to get comfortable with picking an injured player. I thought, I can’t preach to our organization to be open-minded with their decisions if I’m not going to be open-minded myself.”"

Jameson Williams forced Brad Holmes to change his previous philosophy

If not for his ACL tear in Alabama’s national title game loss to Georgia, Williams may have been a top-10 overall pick and the first wide receiver drafted this year. As it was he was a top-15 pick and the fourth receiver taken–which may have been the case without the Lions moving up to get him.

A coach or general manager earns their best stripes by adapting to circumstances. Holmes had a long-running philosophy from his run as the Rams director of college scouting–“don’t pick hurt guys in the first round”–and set it aside it when he determined Williams was his personal No. 1 one wide receiver in the 2022 draft. In a category of his own, even.

Holmes is on track to become one of the NFL’s best general managers. The move up to get Williams could go either way in the coming years. But the process to hone in on him was matched with aggressiveness which has to be appreciated, regardless of how his career turns out.