If you went into Brad Holmes’ Monday pre-draft press conference expecting him to shed substantial light on the Detroit Lions’ draft strategy or give clues on areas they might target, you likely left pretty disappointed.
The Lions’ general manager didn’t reveal much, choosing to remain rather vague and noncommittal as he navigated questions from media members. To give a general idea of the types of answers Holmes gave, here’s his response to a question about whether he felt the Lions addressed their needs in free agency well enough.
“I feel like we did the best we could, and we maximized the resources that we had available,” he said. “That's my job to do that and I think that we accomplished that.”
NFL managers are essentially duty-bound to be tight-lipped during draft season. It’s a turbulent time where information is precious. As much focus as front offices put towards assembling their draft boards and figuring out the players they like and dislike, there’s also an element of making sure you don’t accidentally tip off your plans or somehow give another franchise a leg up.
But it’s understandable why some Lions fans may be a little perturbed by Holmes’ next comment. He was asked if he felt more pressure to target specific “needs” on the Lions’ roster.
“Not really,” he said. “I think sometimes you can get in trouble by doing that just because you might start to reach for a certain player because you feel like you need that position, and you never want to feel that way when you select a player. You pass up a really good player that you liked even more, but there is a question mark on your roster. So, you just go ahead and you get that player that you weren't as excited about. For me, it's hard to sleep at night when you do that.”
“Best player available” has been the conventional wisdom in the NFL for some time now, so it’s not surprising to hear a general manager say something like that. But for a team like the Lions, that is aiming not only to return to the playoffs in 2026 but make a run at the Super Bowl, there’s more of an incentive to add impact players now.
Plus, let’s not act like there aren’t real “needs” on this roster.
Fans shouldn't get too worried about Holmes' pre-draft comments
The Lions’ current edge rusher group consists of the all-world Aidan Hutchinson, followed by 2025 day 3 pick Ahmed Hassanein, late-summer 2025 waiver add Tyler Lacy and free agent acquisitions D.J. Wonnum and Payton Turner.
Not the deepest group on paper barring a breakout that makes Al-Quadin Muhammad's 2025 look like something we all expected.
Plus, there’s a Taylor Decker-sized hole on the left side of the line after the veteran tackle successfully requested his release this offseason. The Lions have talked about moving Penei Sewell over there, and signed swing tackle Larry Borom as a potential starting option in March.
But neither of those position groups feel complete, and the near-unanimous consensus from draft pundits has been Detroit will take an edge rusher or offensive tackle with the No. 17 pick in the draft.
Holmes, like any good GM in his pre-draft presser, wasn’t so sure.
“From the last thing I saw on tape, [Larry Borum’s] got starter-level ability, and same as Wonnum,” he said. “You’re talking about guys that have been starters in the NFL… They’re still young. We feel good about both of them, so we don’t feel like we have to supplement them.”
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So Holmes doesn’t feel like the Lions have to draft one of those two positions. Go figure. Many general managers preach this “best player available” mantra, but few actually live it as much as Holmes.
Perhaps it’s been lost a bit to the sands of time (three years?) how controversial his first-round selections of Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell were in 2023. Running back and linebacker weren’t viewed as high priorities for them at the time. Both became elite players.
There were also his selections of defensive tackle Tyleik Williams and wideout Isaac TeSlaa in last year’s draft. The jury’s still out on those picks, but they were indeed daring considering the Lions had a pair of established starters at both of those positions. (Alim McNeill and D.J. Reader, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams)
So while it might be easy for some to read his latest comments as an indicator that the Lions don’t care about those “needs” we all keep talking about, it’s important to remember Holmes’ goal in this press conference was to not reveal anything about the Lions’ strategy. He did that.
And plus, he did offer this.
“There are just times where you might— it lines up,” he said. “Maybe the best player is a ‘perceived need’ and it lines up that way. It’s lined up like that in the past. But that’s not always the case.”
The only thing we know for sure about the Lions’ draft strategy is that we don’t know. There’s a kind of peace in that.
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