Shy of an epic rash of injuries this season, not much has gone wrong for the Detroit Lions lately. General manager Brad Holmes has basically nailed the draft during his tenure, and free agent signings this side of Cameron Sutton have generally been good.
The biggest part of the task Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell had in rebuilding the Lions was resetting the culture. Another part was moving on from the mistakes of the previous regime when possible, and getting players that fit better to replace them. It's safe to say those moves have worked out too.
With the jury not in on every Holmes draft pick, it's possible we'll eventually look back on some as mistakes. But no general manager has a 100 percent hit rate in the draft, and Holmes is far better than most of his peers.
Holmes' predecessor, Bob Quinn, would love to have had anywhere close to Holmes' hit rate in the draft. Two of Quinn's best picks (Taylor Decker, Frank Ragnow) are still on the team though.
Lions' worst mistake since 2020 is blatantly obvious
ESPN NFL analyst Bill Barnwell has ranked each team's worst mistake since 2020 and ranked them 1-32 (actually 32 down to 1 in the article). The Lions' worst mistake comes in at No. 29 on the overall list, but it's also absolutely obvious.
With the third overall pick of his final draft as Lions' general manager, Quinn took Ohio Stare cornerback Jeff Okudah. There was not much issue taken with the pick at the time, as Okudah had been very good for the Buckeyes. A replacement for Darius Slay, who Matt Patricia inexplicably had a lot of dislike for, was needed too.
Barnwell has drafting Okudah as the Lions' worst mistake since 2020.
"I'd classify this move more as bad luck than a bad process, but there's no arguing it didn't work out. Okudah struggled through injuries and lapses in confidence during his rookie season. With Patricia gone after the 2020 season, new defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn undoubtedly hoped to get the most out of a fellow cornerback, but Okudah ruptured an Achilles in Week 1 of the 2021 season. He came back in 2022 but never emerged as the cover corner the Lions hoped, and he fell out of the starting lineup toward the end of the season. He has bounced around with the Falcons and Texans since."
Okudah dealt with multiple injuries during his rookie season, not to mention having to be coached by Patricia to foster lapses in confidence. A fresh start under a new coaching regime in 2021 didn't last long, as he suffered a torn Achilles in the season opener and missed the rest of the season.
Okudah started to show his potential early in the 2022 season, but late-season ailments derailed that and led to his being traded to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2023 fifth-round pick in April of 2023. He spent one season in Atlanta, and he has played in four games for the Houston Texans this year.
As Barnwell noted, the selection of Okudah not working out was far more bad fortune that bad process by the previous regime in Detroit. On the good side, the fifth-round pick the Lions got in the Okudah trade was used in the deal to trade up and get Brian Branch.