Do the Detroit Lions have a splashy move in them this offseason?

It's fair to say, and fans will just jump in on it if the opposite is brought up, the idea the Detroit Lions will make a big move to add someone this offseason is out there. General manager Brad Holmes persistently drives home the point about drafting, developing and re-signing guys being the No. 1 priority. So it's easy to get wooed into that idea.

But no general manager is going to openly declare a big move is on the radar.

On 97.1 The Ticket as NFL Combine week started, Holmes mostly said what he always says about free agency. It wasn't really a tease of anything, but a small piece of what Holmes said stood out some.

"Do you want to externally say, ‘Well, we can get another depth player here on external add’? Or do you want to say, ‘Well, we had these handful of players that we were looking to add from an external standpoint? Now that we have this much more available then maybe we can get a bigger fish?’”

Will Lions general manager Brad Holmes make a big move this offseason?

Mike Payton of AtoZ Sports, harkening back to his days at Pride of Detroit when Rams' beat writer Jordan Rodrigue was on their podcast and predicted a lot of what has transpired so far in Holmes' tenure as Lions' general manager, wondered if the Lions will ever be big spenders.

Holmes of course worked under Les Snead in Los Angeles, and Snead notably had a "F'-them picks mode" on the way to shaping what ended up being a Super Bowl-winning roster.

During Holmes' media availability at the NFL Combine this week, Payton asked Holmes about being at the point of making big moves.

"Yeah, that's a really good question. Because me and our assistant general manager Ray Agnew we were both with Les and he was actually a more integral point person in the free agent process because of his role as a director of pro scouting at the time. But we talked about how, When Les first got there in 2012, you know, obviously, he drafted for a lot of years, and you know, you're attacking every single position in free agency. You're trying to build the roster. When Ray and I got here in 2021, we had to take the same approach. But, as you kind of build the roster, and get more stronger in certain areas, your process alters a little bit because you can be a little bit more, we've always been strategic and selective, but you can even be more selective than you have in the past. So, we're not quite there yet, where Les than the Rams are, you know, where he really started to be very, very, very selective there. But me and Ray were just talking about that and we are getting there, we're getting closer." 

That's a long-winded way for Holmes to land in the same spot he always does, using words like "strategic" and "selective". That applies to staying the course on the current plan, which will still be the basis for the Lions' success-to draft well and keep a core of those players intact.

But being "strategic" and "selective" can also apply to making a significant move via free agency or a trade, in terms of who is a fit, who isn't a fit and who's worth targeting at a position of need.

The odds the Lions make a single major move this offseason are still pretty slim, but the door should not be shut on the idea just yet.