With the Lions having leapt into Super Bowl contention, you might think Brad Holmes would adjust his approach to the draft. Prioritize a certain position, perhaps. Target win-now players. Go "all-in." You would be wrong.
And you probably wouldn't be surprised.
All Holmes has done in three drafts as Lions GM is select two All-Pros, three more Pro Bowlers and a pile of cornerstone players to build one of the best rosters in the NFC. Why would he fix an unbroken process?
Asked Thursday about drafting with both the long view and the Lions' newly-opened championship window in mind, Holmes said, "I don’t really base it off of windows. Again, it’s just, how much of an impactful player do you want to get?"
Take last year, said Holmes. The Lions originally had picks Nos. 6 and 18 overall and "we were looking to trade up from 18" if they had stood pat at 6, in theory to take running back Jahmyr Gibbs. Instead, they moved back to 12 and got Gibbs and stood pat at 18 to draft linebacker Jack Campbell.
"That didn’t really depend on the window that we were in or anything," said Holmes. "It’s just that those were some players that we really, really wanted to have and we just had mind that that was going to be the plan. It kinda worked out a little bit differently. You gotta be prepared for everything."
Neither Gibbs nor Campbell filled an immediate need for the Lions, who had solid starters at both positions in David Montgomery and Alex Anzalone. And neither one plays a so-called premium position. In case you hadn't heard, none of that matters to Holmes and the Lions, who "don't get anchored on windows and don't get anchored on positions," he said. They fixate, instead, on difference-making football players.
The found three of them in the first two rounds last year by taking a running back, a tight end in Sam LaPorta and a defensive back in Brian Branch. Campbell could still make it four.
"It's just, there’s only one draft every year," Holmes said. "There’s a lot of work that goes into it, so that’s our recipe. We look for guys that we’re convicted on that are the right fits for us ... You don’t just pick whatever the premium position is. No, he has to be the right football player. That’s what we stick to, and it’s worked so far for us."
Holmes said he does understand the thinking behind taking a more targeted or aggressive approach, "because you’re like, ‘OK, the roster is at a certain point. You guys should be contenders heading into the season. How do you operate that way?'" For the Lions, who came within a game of the Super Bowl las season powered by their offense, prioritizing a pass rusher or cornerback would make sense early in the draft.
"But, again, I think if we just keep improving every single year doing it through our process, that’s what we’ve been doing and that’s what we’ll continue to do. When you start getting into, ‘We’ve got this window, so we gotta do this and we gotta pivot,’ that’s when I think you get in a little bit of trouble," said Holmes.
Holmes' thinking is just the opposite. The way he sees it, the Lions have such a strong roster and so few glaring needs -- if any -- they can afford to go after almost any position at any point in the draft. That stands in stark contract to "when we first got here and we had a ton of needs," he said.
"Really, with where the roster is right now, I actually think you have even more flexibility to not be anchored into a need," said Holmes. "Again, we try to do the best we can in free agency in terms of plugging holes and pulling out the depth chart. We feel we did a great job in free agency and we're in position to go whichever direction we want to go (in the draft).
"It's less of 'Oh, we really need this. Oh, we really need the depth here. We need that.' No, we've always said best player, but it's even more emphasized now."