Brad Holmes and the Lions spent free agency filling the biggest holes on their roster, particularly on defense. Now the draft is wide open for them, with two first-round picks including No. 6 overall.
"A lot of mock drafts probably had us taking two DB’s in the first round, at 6 and 18," Holmes told reporters Monday at the NFL owners meetings. "But obviously what we’ve done in free agency put us in a good position. Again, that doesn’t rule out that we won’t still take a DB. But I do think that it’s given us flexibility to really go any direction we want, and it’s a good spot to be in."
The Lions added three starting defensive backs on the free agent market in Cam Sutton, Emmanuel Moseley and C.J. Gardner-Johnson. They also re-signed starting linebacker Alex Anzalone and starting defensive linemen John Cominsky and Isaiah Buggs.
On offense, they brought in running back David Montgomery. They still have a need at receiver after losing DJ Chark to the Panthers, but Holmes suggested the Lions could fill that via free agency, too.
Which means they won't be trying to fill needs via the draft.
"We always just say we’re going to take the best football player for us," said Holmes. "We don’t have a depth chart in our draft room. I just think you can make a lot of mistakes with that. I’ve been in regimes in the past that have had a depth chart in the draft room and I’ve just never really been a fan of that.
"Everything that we’ve done out of free agency, I think that we’re in a better position to really just take the best player available and just add the right fits and good football players."
Reflecting on his time with the Rams, where he spent eight years as director of college scouting, Holmes said he learned a valuable lesson when the club built one of the best defensives in the NFL by disregarding need at the top of the draft. The Rams spent first-round picks on Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn and Michael Brockers in a four-year span.
By the same token, Holmes spent his first draft pick as Lions GM on offensive tackle Penei Sewell, even though the O-line was arguably the only strength of Detroit's roster. Now Sewell is one of the anchors of the best offensive lines in the NFL.
"Everyone has question marks on their team at a certain position. When you’re approaching a draft and you’re just looking to fill those question marks, I do think that it can equate to some mistakes," said Holmes. "Back in St. Louis, even, it got to a point where we had a pretty strong D line and we had some concerns elsewhere, but we just keep adding to our D Line and it turned into this beast that was a strength of the football team.
"When you’re trying to stick to the depth chart and fill every hole, that’s not the way we do it. We just try to take the best player for us."
More than ever, Holmes and the Lions are prepared to do that.
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