Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes: ‘I don’t think the cupboard’s bare on defense’

INDIANAPOLIS — Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes and head coach Dan Campbell spent about 20 minutes each with reporters at the NFL combine Wednesday, discussing the draft, free agency and their plans for the offseason. Here are highlights from their sessions:

Sticking with the plan

Holmes reiterated what he said immediately after the season, that despite having more salary cap room and resources to impact their roster this offseason, the Lions will not veer far from the path that’s got them to this point That means building through the draft, making prudent offseason additions and trying to re-sign some of their own free agents.

One unrestricted free agent that Holmes acknowledged the Lions are interested in re-signing is running back Jamaal Williams, who had a career-high 1,066 yards rushing last season and led the NFL with 17 rushing touchdowns.

“We’re having discussions now currently,” Holmes said. “We had discussions with all of our upcoming UFAs that were on expiring deals, but there’s a mutual interest to hopefully get him back and then we still got (D’Andre) Swift under contract (at running back).”

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Sudden impact?

Both Holmes and Campbell downplayed the notion the Lions must sign an impact defensive player in free agency this spring. The Lions tied for 28th in the NFL in points allowed last season and finished last in total defense, and they enter the offseason with needs at all three levels.

Lions president Rod Wood told the Free Press on Monday that there were “a couple (free agents) that we’re interested in that could get franchise tags,” which means the Lions could target a top defensive tackle, off-ball linebacker or cornerback, but Holmes said the Lions’ defensive outlook is better than it appears statistically.

“We had drafted six defensive players last year and five of those six guys, they end up playing some key roles for us but they were rookies,” Holmes said. “So you can look at the number of, yeah, we don’t want to be in the bottom five of the rushing and passing yards categories, but I will say the way we finished winning eight of our last 10 and seeing those guys grow together and learn how to play winning football, I think it shows. So I don’t think the cupboard’s bare on defense just like you look at the overall ranking. But I think we got some good young players that show that they can really help us going forward.”

To Holmes’ point, five rookies — Aidan Hutchinson, James Houston, Josh Paschal, Malcolm Rodriguez and Kerby Joseph — played significant defensive snaps late in the season, and Hutchinson, Rodriguez and Joseph were full-time starters. All are expected back in key roles this fall, and if they make the baseline improvements you’d expect from NFL players in their second season that could bode well for the Lions defense.

Who’s QB2?

One area the Lions will be actively addressing this offseason, Holmes indicated, is the backup quarterback spot.

The Lions have neglected the backup quarterback position the past two seasons while focusing on other areas of their roster. In 2021, Tim Boyle and David Blough served as backups, with Boyle going 0-3 as a fill-in starter for Jared Goff. Last year, when Boyle and Blough struggled in training camp, the Lions were left to sign Nate Sudfeld after he was released by the San Francisco 49ers.

Whether it’s free agency (where Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold and Case Keenum are among the top backups on the market), the draft or both, expect the Lions to upgrade their No. 2 quarterback spot this offseason.

“I feel like last year we kind of left training camp kind of sliding into home plate trying to fill that backup quarterback role and that’s on me,” Holmes said. “I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we’re not in that position again, so that is something that we’re going to need to address, whether it’s here in free agency or upcoming in the draft. But that’s something that we’ve had a lot of conversations about, but I’ve got to do a better job of making sure we get that rectified.”

Best player available

Holmes typically avoids talking in absolutes because he does not want to be “anchored” to a position, so it’s no surprise he left the door open Wednesday to drafting a quarterback in the first round at No. 6 or 18.

But the chances of that happening are minute.

The Lions are very happy with Goff’s development as starting quarterback and the season he had in 2022. For all the outside speculation about whether the Lions will take a young developmental quarterback to groom as Goff’s eventual replacement, that seems highly unlikely.

“I’ve been pretty clear about, and I’ve had these conversations with Jared,” Holmes said. “Look, we love Jared, he’s our starter, he’s our guy going into (2023), but we don’t have anything behind him. I thought Nate did a nice job when we got him, but he’s a UFA as well. So again, we got to make sure that we address everything again, whether it’s free agency and through the draft. But yeah, it could very well be through the draft. Don’t know what’s going to happen in free agency and not sure if some of those guys at the quarterback position in free agency might not be ready to make a decision at that point before the draft.”

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Coach can see it, too

While some NFL teams send few if any assistant coaches to the combine (and some head coaches skip the event, too), Campbell said he finds value for his entire staff to be in Indianapolis this week.

“Here’s what we get from it,” Campbell said. “Brad and them are, they’re getting a true evaluation of these players, and they have for a while, but they’re also getting the background. This is how this guy responds, this is how he grew up, this is the best way to teach, the best way to coach this player, all these things. And for us, it’s all about football, man. What can we figure out in a short period of time as it pertains to the football side of things. Do they have instincts? Do they have awareness? How much information can they retain?”

Love for the game

One thing Campbell values in prospects is a true passion for football, and after meeting with 30 to 35 prospects the first few days of the combine, Campbell said he’s only “checked marked four guys” that have that can’t-live-without-it trait.

“To me they’ve got the ‘it’ factor,” Campbell said. “Just when you sit in there and you hear them talk about football, there’s a fire burning in them, man. They can’t sit in their seat. They got to get up to talk. They got to tell you what’s going on. This is how I think. And that, you can’t fake that. When you have that you love ball and you’ll eat and breathe and do anything for it, do anything for your teammates. Your uber competitive. …

“You present them this mini-install before they get to the tape and taking notes, asking questions, and then, man, when you go they throw the sheet down. Because to them it’s a competition, like I’m about to show you how good I can do this. I’m going to show you what I can retain, I’m going to show you that I understand what you’re wanting me to do and and those guys are rare. If you can find those guys and they’ve got some ability which most guys here do, it’s hard not to like them.”

Waiting for Jamo

Holmes said having a fully healthy Jameson Williams this fall will be almost like adding a third first-round pick to the roster, albeit one with slightly more experience than a rookie.

“Obviously, we’re expecting big things,” Holmes said. “The goal when we originally drafted him, we didn’t know really how much we were going to get out of him, but it was good to have him get some kind of game experience to kind of feel the speed of the game. But yeah, we’re just going to continue to do everything that we need to do to make sure that he’s set up to succeed. Jameson also has to hold his part and make sure that he’s doing everything that he needs to do, so it’s always an accountability factor on both sides, but we expect big things from him.”

Williams played in just six games for the Lions last season coming off knee surgery. He finished with one catch on nine targets for 41 yards and a touchdown, and he ran for 40 yards on his only carry.

Clearing the cap

The Lions released Michael Brockers in a cost-cutting move last week, and Holmes said conversations are ongoing about other potential moves the Lions can make to create more cap space.

“We’re still having discussions with players’ agents and if we do need to do anything down the road then we will, if needed,” Holmes said. “But we’re going to try and do our best to keep the foundation that we have in place and keep the core in place. But obviously, that’s a real thing, a true reality of the NFL, and it keeps a parity in place. So we’ll have to make those decisions, but we’re having those discussions now.”

Among the players the Lions could approach to take pay cuts or have tough decisions to make on whether to move on are guard Halapoulivaati Vaitai, who missed all of last season following back surgery and is scheduled to make $9.4 million this fall, and defensive end Romeo Okwara, who has an $11 million base salary in the final year of his deal.

The one that got away

Holmes said the Lions “tried like hell” to keep college scouting director Dave Sears from leaving this offseason, but the opportunity to become assistant general manager of the Arizona Cardinals was too good for Sears to pass up.

Sears, who joined the Lions in 2007 and was the Lions’ southeast regional scout, responsible for much of SEC country, before becoming director of college scouting in 2019. is good friends with new Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort.

“That was a big loss because Dave is, he’s a really good person,” Holmes said. “He’s an elite evaluator, in my opinion. So that’s a big loss, but we do have an assistant college director in Brian Hudspeth and then we’ll just kind of make the right decision (on who replaces Sears) after the draft.”

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.