Allen Park — Holding the No. 2 pick in last year’s NFL Draft, Lions general manager Brad Holmes understandably had an easier time narrowing down his options well ahead of making the selection. Even the previous year, his first on the job, the then-rookie GM had a concrete plan for the team’s first-round choice at No. 7.
But this year is different. A week before the draft’s first round, where the team is slated to make the sixth choice, Holmes and his staff are still wading through increased uncertainty about the cluster of talent they anticipate being available at that spot.
“I’ll still say we’re kind of allowing that to crystalize a little bit,” Holmes said Thursday. “I will say we’re closer now than we were at (last month’s league meetings), but there’s still work to be done. Every draft is different, and just like I told you guys last year, picking at two, we pretty much knew what that cluster was at that time.
“It’s gotten closer, but it’s a lot more film, a lot more research has been done. We’ve had a lot more meetings since that time, so all the research and kind of sticking to our process and rendering the results from that and being confident in our process. That’s how I can always sleep good at night knowing we’ll come up with the right group.”
From the sound of things, it’s a lot less about Detroit’s comfort level with the prospects, but which ones will be available based on what could happen the five selections before the Lions are officially on the clock. Much of that conversation centers around the quarterbacks at the top of the class, and if one or two are coveted enough to result in some movement, with teams currently outside the top five jumping ahead of the Lions to get their guy.
“This draft is a little bit different than in the past,” Holmes said. “But I would say yes, because I do feel like we’re in a position where we can do anything we want. I just don’t feel like we’re pressed. … Yeah, a little bit more unpredictable and it’s having those two picks, they’re kind of in unique spots depending on what’s going to happen in front of you, what’s going to happen behind you. And then like I was saying before about where we are right now, I say we have a lot of flexibility. We can go in a lot of different directions, and we feel good about that.”
jdrogers@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @Justin_Rogers