It wasn’t that long ago at all when Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes got up in front of the media at the NFL Combine and I got the chance to ask him if his former boss Les Snead’s methodology in free agency had any inspiration on him. The question was basically “are the Lions ever going to be big spenders?” Holmes response is still locked inside my head.
“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 and 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.”
Back in 2021 when the Lions hired Holmes and I was still at Pride of Detroit, we had Athletic Rams’ beat writer Jourdan Rodrigue on the PODcast and she said that she believed that at some point Holmes would take the Snead route and start moving assets. I took Holmes comments at the Combine as a bit of a confirmation of Rodrigues’ point.
Now after the Lions 47-9 win over the Cowboys and the loss of Aidan Hutchinson, it’s feeling the time where Holmes flips the “spend that money” switch needs to be right now.
This is a huge year for the Lions and while I came away from Sunday’s game thinking they can still beat anyone regardless of losing Hutchinson, they still need to find someone, or multiple guys to replace 10 plus pressures and a sack or two a game.
That’s not going to be easy and it could cost some assets, but this is the year right now. The Lions can win the Super Bowl this season. If there were ever a time to go all in, it’s right now ahead of the NFL trade deadline in just a few weeks.
There’s a lot of teams that already look a bit finished after six weeks. The Browns, Raiders, Patriots, Jaguars, Titans, Rams and Panthers. Spot what they have that you want and go get it. It’s time to be selective and go win that title. This is team is already built extremely well when it comes to sustained success. It’s ok to make big things happen now.