For Brad Holmes, the draft is where you build. Free agency is where you finish.
Holmes has added several pillars to the Lions roster in his three drafts as GM, starting with Penei Sewell, Alim McNeill and Amon-Ra St. Brown in 2021. He followed up with Aidan Hutchinson and Kerby Joseph in 2022, and Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta and Brian Branch in 2023. That's eight franchise-type players, without yet counting first-rounders Jameson Williams and Jack Campbell, for whom hopes remain high. Only three of them play so-called premium positions in Sewell, Hutchinson and St. Brown.
With four picks in the top 100 of this year's draft, Holmes will be looking for similar cornerstones. If the Lions address positions of need in the process, all the better. But that will never be Holmes' aim in the draft, especially in the early rounds, even as his team closes in on the Super Bowl.
"I’ve always felt that when you see a really good player that can help your football team, you want to go there. From a needs standpoint, I’ve felt more comfortable with that in free agency," Holmes said Monday on 97.1 The Ticket as the NFL combine kicks off in Indianapolis. "I’ve made it known about depth charts in draft rooms, but the depth chart for free agency, I think you can have a lot of comfort there."
The Lions have a few clear needs this offseason, with their window of contention open. Cornerback, edge rusher and interior offensive line are at the top of the list. Defensive tackle and wide receiver need to be addressed as well. While most mock drafts have the Lions adding a player at one of those positions with their first-round pick, Holmes points out that "right now, mock drafts are need-based and rooted in recency bias."
"'This is what the Lions need, so they should draft this player here.' And I don’t really agree with that when it comes to the draft," he said. "I think in free agency you can rely on more need. But in the draft, man, there’s only a subset of those true cornerstone players that you can identify and if you pass those players over because you’re trying to fill need, I think you get yourself in trouble."
Part of Holmes' strong draft record in Detroit owes to a slew of high picks. He's drafted twice in the top 10 and five times in the top 20, and has Sewell, Hutchinson, Gibbs, Williams and Campbell to show for it. He won't have that luxury this year, with the Lions slated to pick 29th overall. But Holmes has also found impact players on Days 2 and 3, a trend that dates back to his days as director of college scouting for the Rams. He says he feels "comfort" in the challenge of drafting after most of the top-ranked players are off the board.
"And I find more excitement in it," he said. "When you’re looking at the top 10, it’s kind of hard to mess up, in my opinion. You got really good players and you’re trying to decide between Turks and Caicos and Grand Cayman -- you’re probably not gonna be mad at either one. But I think it’s a lot more excitement when you’re back there on the backend because you gotta deep-dive it a lot more, you gotta really heavily scrutinize it, and it’s a lot of fun.
"Back in my time with the Rams, we found a lot of good players in those rounds, not even in the first round but on Day 2. And I think we’ve proved that we can do that here as well. So I don't have any angst about not having that high pick. I’m actually excited."
The Lions' needs could look a lot different on the backside of free agency. It doesn't mean they won't target a corner or an edge rusher or an offensive lineman early in the draft. But if they do, it's only because Holmes absolutely loves the player.