Some might say the Lions have been quiet this offseason. Brad Holmes would say they've been louder than expected.
After making it clear at the combine that "we were not going to be big spenders" in free agency with so many extensions to hand out in the near future, "we were able to do more than we actually thought we were going to be able to do," Holmes said Monday at the NFL owners meetings.
The big move was signing cornerback DJ Reed to a three-year, $48 million deal, which Holmes considers a major win. He said "the get-in-the-door price" for top-of-the-market corners was $16 million per year, which is exactly what the Lions are paying Reed: "Didn’t think we would be able to do that," he said.
Holmes was also excited to bring in nose tackle Roy Lopez (one year, $4.65 million), while filling out the team's cornerback depth with veterans Avonte Maddox and Rock Ya-Sin. He was thrilled to retain defensive lineman Levi Onwuzurike on a one-year, $4 million deal (worth up to $5.5 million) that came in far lower than the Lions anticipated after Onwuzurike's best NFL season.
"If you were to tell me that we were going to get that done when we were first trying to get Levi extended, back in the fall, I would have been doing a backflip," Holmes said. "And literally almost was doing a backflip, because I did not think that that we were going to be able to get a player of his caliber back along with how expensive that corner market got."
Still, the Lions weren't nearly as active in free agency as some of their NFC North counterparts like the Vikings and Bears, who splurged on both sides of the ball. Fans clamoring for splashier moves should remember that the Lions' relative inactivity this offseason is the sign of a healthy organization. Holmes hears the angst, and understands it.
"I always say, when the season ends and the Super Bowl get splayed, it’s like, 'OK, what’s next?' Everybody is starving for it, and free agency is the first event on the NFL calendar that’s intense player acquisition, so the excitement is just brewing and simmering. And it’s only really exciting if you get players you haven’t seen before on your team," he said.
Thing is, the Lions won a franchise-best 15 games last season with the players already on their roster, despite heavy attrition on defense. They will be healthier in 2025 -- they have to be, right? Their takeover of the North the past two seasons has also been fueled by star players on rookie contracts. Those players are now getting paid, starting last year when the Lions spent about $330 million on extensions for Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell and Alim McNeill -- not to mention $212 million on Jared Goff. All of those deals minus Sewell's kick in this year.
The 2022 draft class is up next. Aidan Hutchinson and Kerby Joseph are likely to cash in this offseason, with Jameson Williams factoring into the picture as well. Then it will be the 2023 class, which by Holmes' estimation includes four first-round-caliber players in Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Brian Branch and Sam LaPorta.
Even with the NFL's salary cap rising, the Lions have to spend prudently now to ensure they'll be able to afford their own players down the road. To explain their situation, Holmes used "an analogy that popped into my head" Monday morning that rests on a simple fact: everyone has "financial responsibilities."
"You have a mortgage, and your kids’ college fund, your 529, you have your insurance you have to pay. You know you have to pay those things," he said. "But that might require that you can’t take the vacation that you really want right now, this summer. That’s kind of where we are right now, is that we have so many of these young players that have been on rookie deals and we’ve been enjoying the impact that they’ve all been bringing, but now a bill is coming. And what you spend this year is going to impact next year, it even impacts 2027. That’s the discipline that we have to adhere to."
Holmes reiterated that he doesn't expect the fans "to know all the details of the inter-disciplinary studies" of constructing a consistent NFL contender -- and "I don't even know if that's the right (term)," he said with a laugh.
"If I was just a fan -- as much as I love our fans -- I’d be the same way," he said. "Like, ‘Hey, look: splash, get guys, spend the money. Like, let’s go.’ But I just want to make sure that the fans understand that we’re being disciplined in our approach because we’re trying to win now and also sustain what we want to do."
As an extension of his analogy, Holmes was asked if he anticipates the Lions being able to take a so-called vacation next year. He laughed and said, "I think there’s no vacation next year, for sure, because look, again, the bill’s coming, and all these guys are really good players."
"You want to keep them all," he said. "We’ll try to, but we might not be able to keep them all. We’re just going to try to do the best we can."
The Lions sealed their extensions for St. Brown and Sewell the day before the draft last year, then banged out McNeill's early in the season. As for when the next stack of deals might get inked, Holmes said that each negotiation is "organic and case by case."
It would certainly behoove the Lions to extend Hutchinson sooner rather than later after Myles Garrett re-set the market for elite defensive ends at $40 million per year. Joseph, an All-Pro safety, will cost in the neighborhood of $20 million per year. And Williams will only push his price higher with another strong season at a position where players get paid in the same stratosphere as defensive ends: "Wide receiver, it’s expensive. It’s very expensive," Holmes said.
"Look, these are good problems to have," he said. "I don’t want our fans to think that we’re just not making the splashy moves because we don’t want to do that. We’re just being disciplined to make sure that we’re able to sustain winning but also win now."