Lions GM Brad Holmes met the media on Thursday morning to put a bow on the 2024 season. It was Holmes’ first press conference in months and he took advantage, fielding 20 questions at the team’s training facility in Allen Park.
Holmes touched on a wide range of Lions topics, from the feeling of coming up short of expectations to the plan going forward with coaches and players into the 2025 season and how he and his staff will reload and revamp the team.
Here are some of the highlights and observations from Holmes’ season-ending press conference. We’ll get another formal press conference at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis at the end of February.
On what the Lions are looking for in their new coordinators
The Lions saw OC Ben Johnson and DC Aaron Glenn each leave for head coaching positions in the last 48 hours. The search is on for replacements.
Holmes made it clear the new additions will have to adapt to the Lions more than they’ll be making their own imprint upon the team,
“I think he’s going to have to be adaptable, he’s going to have to be smart, he’s going to have to be able to adjust, make sure that he’s putting the players in the best position to succeed, and so those are some of the characteristics that I think are a good culture fit for a coach here. I think that our identity kind of shows, so most coaches that choose to take a position here, same as a player, I think that they know what they’re about to walk into in terms of how we play and what our standards are.”
On losing Aaron Glenn and Ben Johnson
Holmes acknowledged that the organization fully expected for some time to lose both coordinators this offseason. He remains confident in Detroit’s ability to attract and unearth coaching talent.
“Obviously, we were prepared to lose those guys, those guys were great coaches and just call it what it is, we were lucky to have both of them this year,” Holmes stated. “But I know that Dan (Campbell) has been preparing for it and I have the full faith and trust in Dan to make sure that we’re going to have the right people in place in those spots and he’s had to encounter that before. Not at the coordinator level, but other position coaches, and it’s always worked out, so it’ll be good.”
He’s very proud of the 15-2 season even if it ended short of the goal
The Lions had the greatest regular season in franchise history, going 15-2 and capturing the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. That they did so despite rampant injuries, especially on defense, is a clear point of pride for Holmes.
“Look, 15 wins, that’s hard to do in a year where you don’t have all of the attrition that we had to deal with to get 15, but on top of all of the attrition that we had to deal with to get — I mean that’s about as difficult as it gets,” Holmes said. “That was a heck of a job by (Campbell) and the whole staff, the whole coaching staff. We saw a lot of players make jumps and get better and continue to improve. So, I was happy for those guys and our fans. They still, once again, they showed up and did their part and they upheld their end of the bargain. I wish we could have done more for them.”
He’s not a fan of “windows” of opportunity
One of the hot discussion points in the wake of the loss to Washington is the debate over the “window” to win. Holmes quickly rebuked the notion of the window being open or closed. He just doesn’t view things in that lens.
“It’s probably relative of what you would say, ‘Is there is a window? Is there a window that you need to stay in?’ I think that we’ve done a good job of doing our best we can to avoid windows and I understand that contracts come up when contracts come up and stuff happens, but we feel so good about our young core and young nucleus of players,” Holmes said.
“We feel really good about our quarterback and how he’s playing and him having a – let’s call it an MVP caliber season this year. So, I just think that all of the pieces are in place that I don’t really feel walls closing in or a window and again, we kind of make an effort to avoid those kinds of things,” the GM concluded.
Don’t expect an overreaction or changes because of one bad loss
Holmes was asked about fighting the urge to overreact to the playoff loss and perhaps make major changes in light of the early exit. He made it very clear that’s not something he’s fixing to do with this team.
“Yeah, obviously it sucks, it’s humbling, but no overreaction,” Holmes said earnestly. “Honestly, just what I was talking about that there is nothing else to do but get back to work. You guys have heard me talk about trying to battle recency bias and not being a prisoner of the moment. We just fell short, and it wasn’t our day, but no. I don’t think that you can be a prisoner on the moment and just kind of make all of these crazy whole changes.
Now we will assess and evolve like we always do every year, and we will work to improve, but literally, there is nothing else to do but get back to work and that’s what we have been saying from day one. It’s all about the work and that’s what we will continue to do.”
On identifiying draft prospects who fit the Lions
Holmes has famously gone against convention with his draft strategies, and it’s worked incredibly well. He offered a glimpse into the evaluation and thought process of identifying prospects.
“That’s the great thing about what we – me and Dan are so aligned in what the vision is of a player coming in here on this team. So look, I’ve been in a lot of different regimes and under a lot of different coordinators and I’ve probably heard every linebacker term, there’s a MIKE and BUCK and a MAC and a – you’re either a linebacker for the Detroit Lions or not, we don’t alter that from a personnel standpoint. He’s a linebacker, we’re scouting a linebacker for the Detroit Lions, we’re not looking for a MAC for somebody’s – and I think that’s the great thing about me and Dan, and that’s just the foundation, that’s the standard, we play a certain way and I think that’s been a vivid, vivid display for the past few years, about what type of player we want.”
Read as: don’t get too caught up in positions or positional value because the Lions aren’t worried about that. They want Detroit Lions football players and they know them when they see them.
Contract extensions for Kerby Joseph and Aidan Hutchinson
Holmes gave a broad update on the idea of locking up the All-Pro safety and the bedrock EDGE, who wound up finishing 5th in QB pressures in the NFL despite missing more than half the season.
On Hutchinson,
“Yeah, we’re working through all of that. Again, it’s not always in our control. We might have our plans and processes, but it takes two people to get something done. That’s not a negative comment, it’s just that you just don’t know what that player and their camp and all that kind of stuff are thinking. So, we haven’t gotten to those intense dialogues yet, so that’s going to be the only thing, but we have our philosophy, we have our process, but we’ll just see how it goes.”
He offered a similar sentiment on Joseph,
“Yeah, I mean, again, that’s on the docket in terms of to be looked at and discussed. We know where he’s at from an eligibility – look, he’s an All-Pro player, I mean, I don’t know how you don’t make the Pro Bowl with nine interceptions, whatever that is, but he’s an All-Pro player and he’s been – he’s another one that’s gotten better and better, so he’s one that has proven that he’s a Detroit Lion, he fits, he fits our culture. It’s hard to find ballhawk guys that will tackle like how he does, and I think that’s what makes him unique, so again, we haven’t had any intense dialogue about that yet, but obviously we want to keep the good players here.”
On the idea of tradin gdraft picks for veteran talent
Holmes has largely built the Lions through the draft and produced shrewd selections throughout his four draft classes. Don’t expect Holmes to make a big, splashy trade for someone like Maxx Crosby –not that he’s available from the Raiders.
“Yeah, well I think we’ve done that in the past where we’ve added some veteran players, whether it’s free agency or – we had to trade for a veteran pass rusher and expend draft capital for that player. So, we’re not scared of that. It has to be with the right player, so you can’t look at it in kind of a transactional mindset and say, ‘Well we have to get this veteran player and get rid of-’ Well if it’s the right veteran player that can help us and it’s the right fit, then we have no problem doing it if it’s going to help our football team.”
Holmes was referencing the in-season trade for Za’Darius Smith with the Browns, a move borne out of injury-related necessity. That was pretty clearly an extenuating circumstance in Holmes’ viewpoint.
“But we’ve always said that we’re going to build through the Draft, and I think that’s why we are in the position that we are in from a ‘window standpoint’ of having the comfort to keep building like we have been.”