In two drafts as Detroit Lions general manager, Brad Holmes’ eye for college talent has proven to be elite.
The Lions landed three starters in 2021, including one of the best right tackles (Penei Sewell) and top slot receivers (Amon-Ra St. Brown) in football, and three more last spring (Aidan Hutchinson, Kerby Joseph and Malcolm Rodriguez) with the potential to have three more in the very near future.
Both for depth and top-end talent, the drafts could go down as two of the best in modern Lions history. Finding three starters in a draft is the general standard of excellence; finding six — especially if they stay in those roles on a playoff team — would be almost unheard of.
Holmes’ acumen in team building is a big reason why the Lions have soared into playoff contention in two seasons, and his affirmation this week that he won’t change his offseason approach is a reassuring sign they will stay there.
The Lions are closer to championship contention now than they have been at any point since the early 1990s, yet Holmes vowed in his end-of-season news conference Monday to hold firm on his draft-and-develop approach.
The Lions won’t forgo free agent spending this spring, not with upgrades badly needed on defense. But Holmes hinted that, for the third straight offseason, he will tread carefully when it comes to big-ticket signings and put culture over all.
“Regardless of how many resources you have, how much money you can spend, we always are very selective and strategic with how we go about free agency,” Holmes said. “And that’s upcoming UFAs (unrestricted free agents) that are on our team as well as external adds, but it’s always going to be the same approach and I think we’ve kind of proven that.”
In their first few months together in 2021, Holmes and Lions coach Dan Campbell laid what they consider now to be the foundation of their team.
They traded Matthew Stafford for Jared Goff and three draft picks, the last of which will be the No. 6 pick in this year’s draft. They drafted Sewell, St. Brown and Alim McNeill (and might have missed on second- and third-round picks Levi Onwuzurike and Ifeatu Melifonwu). And they signed Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow to a contract extension to lock up one of the league’s best offensive lines.
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In free agency, the Lions mostly tinkered that spring with hard-nosed football junkies and familiar fits on one-year, prove-it deals. Holmes whiffed on his receiver signings, Tyrell Williams and Breshad Perriman, but neither contract ate away at the Lions’ future.
Instead, the Lions re-signed their best pass rusher, Romeo Okwara, added veterans like Alex Anzalone, Charles Harris and Kalif Raymond on one-year deals, and signed one new player — running back Jamaal Williams — to a two-year contact.
Last spring, the Lions followed the same blueprint. They re-signed Anzalone, Harris, Raymond, Josh Reynolds and a few of their other free agents, giving significant money only to Harris and safety Tracy Walker, and showed prudence with their biggest-ticket addition of the offseason, signing receiver DJ Chark to a one-year contract.
Holmes aced the draft, and the Lions improved by six wins with a group of players hardened by the adversity they survived.
“Year 1 didn’t have as many resources at our disposal, but we were very selective about who were the right guys,” Holmes said.
“It’s not that it was just a prove-it one-year deal, but it was the right guy. There was a ton of our options for prove-it one-year deals, but we just were really strategic and selective in getting those right guys and we’ll continue that same plan.”
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Holmes said he is not opposed to spending big in free agency, though he said “spending big is subjective,” and insisted doing so would not stunt the growth of any of his young players so long as he brought the right type of player into the organization.
But he also said he does not consider the Lions to be one player away from championship contention, at the point where splurging on the best cornerback or pass rusher on the market would put them over the top.
“I don’t even know when that one-player-away window comes, and if it does come, it doesn’t matter we’re still trying to get players,” Holmes said. “But there’s some areas that we’ll look at and address, and we’ll be wise and smart and strategic in how we add. But again, we don’t just spend big on getting a high-price guy. It’s got to be the right fit, and it’s got to be the right guy. And if it’s not the right guy, then it doesn’t matter what the outside world thinks.”
To the outside world, that may sound a lot like the Lions’ approach to the 2012 offseason, when they were more hamstrung by the salary cap and budgetary constraints than they are now, and when they squandered the momentum of their 2011 season, when they made the playoffs for the first time in 12 years.
The Lions had a young nucleus then led by Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh, and coming off a 10-6 season they mostly stayed out of the free agent game. They brought in Erik Coleman and re-signed Jeff Backus, then went 4-12 in 2012.
That drop-off, though was as much a function of the Lions’ young nucleus failing to take the step forward they hoped. Nick Fairley, the Lions’ 2011 first-round pick, played well when he wanted to, and that was about it. Titus Young, their 2011 second-rounder, had mental health issues that derailed his career. And Mikel Leshoure, the Lions’ other 2011 second-rounder, never recovered from a torn Achilles tendon.
To top that off, the Lions whiffed in the 2012 draft. First-round pick Riley Reiff was a serviceable tackle, but no Sewell, and second-rounder Ryan Broyles was a non-factor because of a torn ACL.
Holmes has better resources available in this spring’s draft, including two first-round picks and three more of the draft’s first 81 choices. If he lands another three starters, the Lions could be playoff-bound for a long time.
Whatever the Lions do in free agency — they could use a cornerback and interior pass rusher, though difference makers will be hard to find at both positions — Holmes is banking on their biggest improvements next season coming from within.
“One thing that is very prevalent, is high priority, is player development in this building, and that will never be a shortcoming around here,” Holmes said. “So regardless of what we do in free agency, I think our young guys will still take the upward trajectory.”
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.