ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Fresh off helping this Detroit Lions team earn a franchise-record 15 wins, only to watch it lose in its first playoff game, Lions GM Brad Holmes was on hand to recap the year that was.
There was a bittersweet tone to it. Holmes praised the way the Lions kept things together during the regular season as things fell apart, en route to a division title and those 15 wins. But he’s also disappointed in the finish.
“Obviously fell short of the goals that we set out to accomplish this year and it stung,” Holmes said. “It’s humbling, but I won’t allow it to discredit all of the positives that we were able to accomplish as well this season. Franchise record of wins and another division title and being undefeated on the road, being undefeated in the division in a — call it what it is — a historically tight division race this year. The whole organization had a hand in that, and I can’t thank the players enough for all of their sacrifice and strain and commitment and their response through the adverse moments that arose.
“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. …But hey look, it happened. It happened and you can’t sulk it back, you can’t mope a reversal of the unfortunate outcome, so there’s literally nothing else to do but pick yourself up and get back to work. There is nothing else to do, so that’s what we’re going to do. That’s what we will do, and the process has already started.”
Holmes on Detroit’s Super Bowl window
There’s been talk that the Lions missed their window to win a Super Bowl. Big-money contracts to Penei Sewell, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff, Alim McNeill and Taylor Decker will kick in. The Lions lost their star coordinators. Things will certainly look different in the coming years.
But how different, if the core is still in place?
“I think that we’ve done a good job of doing our best we can to avoid windows,” Holmes said. “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, and we feel really good about our quarterback and how he’s playing and him having an MVP caliber season this year. So, I just think all of the pieces are in place that I don’t really feel walls closing in or a window — again, we kind of make an effort to avoid those kinds of things.”
The reason the Lions built it the way they did — investing in young talent and never chasing the high-priced free agent or cutting corners in the early years — was so they’d be able to give themselves multiple shots at a Super Bowl, or perhaps multiple bites of the enchilada, as Campbell calls it.
Change is unsettling at times. But the Lions still have one of the league’s best talent evaluators in Holmes, one of its best leaders and developers in Campbell and a roster full of young talent that will only get better. No need to drastically alter what got them here.
“Yeah, I just think that we just stay the course and just keep building like we’ve been,” Holmes said. “I do think that we’re very close. Obviously, I thought that we were very close this year, but nothing is going to alter what our approach has been in terms of trying to continue to improve and keep building. Obviously, I do think that we are very close, obviously felt really good about this season, but fell short. We’re going to stay committed and stay continue to the process.”
How Holmes navigated Detroit’s injuries
In a Super Bowl year, and the best season in franchise history, Holmes was left to watch Detroit’s defense succumb to injury, doing everything he could to stop the bleeding. To an extent, the Lions try to prepare for injuries. But this was, admittedly, hard to avoid.
“That’s why me and Dan are so heavily concentrated on depth, depth, depth, even though when sometimes it’s like, ‘Now why didn’t you sign that most expensive free agent?’ Well, we’re trying to accrue depth because this kind of stuff happens,” Holmes said, when asked about watching all the injuries take place this year.
Obviously, there was no way to prepare for what the Lions faced this year. Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Derrick Barnes, Carlton Davis, Alex Anzalone, Marcus Davenport, Malcolm Rodriguez, Ifeatu Melifonwu, Ennis Rakestraw Jr., Jalen Reeves-Maybin, John Cominsky, Kyle Peko, Mekhi Wingo, Khalil Dorsey and more all spent time on injured reserve. These are all players the Lions could’ve used — particularly late in the year. The Lions ranked second in the NFL in points allowed from Weeks 1-13, allowing just 16.9 points per game. Give credit to players and coaches for keeping things together for that long. From Weeks 14-18, they ranked 28th at 27.8 allowed. Then gave up 38 (excluding a pick-6) in the team’s loss to the Commanders.
Holmes’ philosophy as things were falling apart?
What are you gonna do about it?
“I just feel bad for the players, really. I feel like the players put so much into it and a lot of times, it’s bad luck,” Holmes said. “When you look at some of these injuries of how they happened, they were some of just bizarre. So, I just hate it for the players because they put way too much into it to get the rash of bad luck. But in terms of how we roll, I say from a positive standpoint or a positive emotion, it actually kind of fuels me and it fueled our personnel department as the attrition piled up to, ‘What are you going to do about it? …The injuries happened, you can’t pout them back to health.
“..I do think that our personnel department did a really good job in terms of responding and doing what they had to do and a lot of credit just to the process so that we weren’t scrambling, we weren’t finding guys at the last minute. A lot of guys that we added were identified early on in the process and guys that we thought were going to fit and they did. And also, credit to the coaches just getting those guys ready to play and contribute that quickly. That’s very hard to do. …It sucks, yeah, but it happens.”
What the Lions went through this year isn’t normal. But you have to think Holmes and Co. will place an even greater emphasis on depth than they already did after seeing the lack thereof derail what could’ve been a special season.
Replacing Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn
The decision to replace Johnson and Glenn will ultimately come down to Campbell. He has the full support of Holmes.
“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 said. “But I know that Dan 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.”
Holmes spent some time offering his thoughts on what the next coordinators need to be successful here.
“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,” Holmes said. “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.”
Holmes was asked if he’d need to tailor his draft approach to find players who fit what a new coordinator likes to run. He doesn’t see it that way. If you’re going to be a coordinator here, you have to be a fit for how this franchise operates. You know it by now. They don’t make excuses. They look for answers. They want guys who played hard, are wired the right way and will elevate a locker room.
The same goes for their coaching staff.
“That’s just the foundation, that’s the standard,” Holmes said. “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. So, I understand the question. I do understand the question because I get it, man. New coordinator comes in, it’s like, ‘Well, I’ve got to have this kind of guy, and I have this kind of guy.’ And look, we scout everybody, we look at everybody, but there are certain core intangibles that, I don’t care what the arm length is of a specific player if he doesn’t play like how we need him to play, then it doesn’t fit.”
On Detroit’s rookie class
Holmes didn’t talk about every rookie, but he did offer thoughts on a few and how they fared in their first season.
Chrisitan Mahogany: “Mahogany kind of started the OTAs like, ‘Man, he looks like he’s — it’s not too big for him.’ He just stepped right in and kind of knew what to do. Manu was the complete opposite. He’s like, ‘Man, I’ve never had this kind of lingo that I had to remember and snap cadence and all that stuff.’…When Christian had to take the time off being on NFI, when we returned him, me and Dan were kind of like, ‘He’s a rookie, he’s missed this much time.’ The medical staff and the trainers knew he was in good shape physically, but we were like, ‘If he can help, he can help. If he can’t —‘ You know how we are with rookies, and he was like — he jumped right in. You could see it noticeably in practice where it’s like, ‘OK, wow, we’ve got to get this guy active, oh wow.’ And so, I think he just has to continue improving, continue to work on his game, I know that he will do that, but I do think that he can make that jump.”
Giovanni Manu: “Gio was the same way. If you’ve watched the film of Gio in OTAs and you watched the film of Gio in practice, I mean, it literally is night and day. And so that’s a credit to (Lions Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley) and (Lions Assistant Offensive Line Coach) Steve Oliver and all those guys just working with him, and a credit to him because he was conscientious of making sure that he’s improved. So, excited about both of those guys’ futures, for sure.”
Terrion Arnold: “Kind of similar where we knew that it wasn’t going to be big for him. Psychologically he’s a highly confident kid, and had some up and down moments early on, had some aggressive moments, which was a good thing, didn’t have any timid moments, but I think all those snaps that he played are going to serve him well going forward, and then you just saw, the waters were a little choppy early and then you saw the waters kind of calm down, kind of midpoint to later in the season. So, very high expectations for him going forward. Again, we all know how he’s wired. He’s wired the right way, he’s long, he’s athletic, he’s got instincts, he’s tough, he’ll tackle, and so all those reps are just going to improve his confidence even more.”
Other news and notes
Holmes offered a few thoughts on potential extensions, looming free agents and areas of need.
- On a potential Kevin Zeitler return: “A player of that age, you’ve just got to have conversations with him. We had conversations on exit day and then we’ll just continue to have dialogue and just kind of see where it goes.”
- On a potential Carlton Davis return: “We’re very aware of it and we’ll go through our normal process, and if we have updates, we’ll make sure you guys know.”
- On a potential Aidan Hutchinson extension: “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.”
- On a potential Kerby Joseph extension: “That’s on the docket in terms of — to be looked at and discussed. …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. He’s one that has proven that he’s a Detroit Lion. He fits our culture. …We want to keep the good players here.”
- On keeping the offensive line elite: “That’s the engine for us. And so, I don’t care how good we ever get on the offensive line, that one right there is too important for not only our team, our quarterback, everything. It’s our identity, man. So, I think just that alone is just — it’s always going to be at the forefront.”
- Holmes and Johnson earned some recognition from the Pro Football Writers Association. Holmes was named Executive of the Year, while Johnson was selected as Assistant Coach of the Year.
Kevin O’Connell selected as PFWA’s 2024 NFL Coach of the Year; Brad Holmes picked NFL Executive of the Year and Ben Johnson named NFL Assistant Coach of the Yearhttps://t.co/J2fk4ybFUy pic.twitter.com/ocp0lFetQe
— Pro Football Writers (@PFWAwriters) January 23, 2025
(Top photo: Kimberly P. Mitchell / USA Today)
