During a fiery and memorable season-ending press conference, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes made it clear he was tired of hearing about how 'cute' a story his team is after making it to the NFC Championship Game.
"It's only going to get better, okay. We’re only going to get better,” Holmes said. “I don’t want anybody to think that this was a one-shot, Cinderella magical journey that just happened. No, it’s real..... I understand that based on history from what’s happened in the past—I understand you have a season like this, it’s easy to feel like this was kind of a one-shot, magical, lucky cute story—which I’m tired of hearing. It was none of that.”
In the opinion of at least one notable analyst/host, who made his thoughts public, the Lions' "Super Bowl window" is already closed. But in reality, they have the look of a sustainable contender. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but the Lions are not going away among the teams who can go to (or win?) a Super Bowl in the next few years.
Brad Holmes will not, as expected, be driven by perception of a 'Super Bowl window'
During his pre-draft press conference, via SI.com, Holmes said the Lions' draft plan is not and will not be impacted by the idea the team is in a "Super Bowl window."
"Yeah, I don’t really base it off of windows really. Again, it’s just how much of an impactful player do you want to get...“I understand the question because you’re like, ‘Okay, the roster’s at a certain point. Okay, you guys should be contenders headed into the season, so okay, how do you operate this way?’ But, again, I just think if we keep improving every single year through doing it in our process.....“I think when you start getting into that, ‘We’ve got this window, we’ve got this, so we’ve got to pivot,’ that’s when I think you kind of get into a little bit of trouble.”
It shouldn't shock anyone that Holmes won't be swayed by the perception the Lions are in a window to win a Super Bowl. That kind of "window" can close quickly, but it's not something to base draft strategy, or any other roster construction decisions, on. Holmes' general draft plan has been working very well so far, and he's not going to divert from it now that the Lions are good.