This was new to Brad Holmes. For all his draft experience as director of college scouting for the Rams, for all the time he spent ranking prospects and debating picks, he never had to call the shots. He never had to make the franchise-altering decisions. He learned the weight of that burden in his first draft as GM of the Lions.
Late Thursday night, long after taking Penei Sewell seventh overall, Holmes felt the urge to trade back into the first round for Levi Onwuzurike. The defensive tackle from Washington was one of Holmes' favorite players in the draft. To Holmes, he "was worthy of being selected in the first round." But what was he worth to others? Could the Lions get him with the 41st pick if they waited?
"Toward the end of Thursday we were trying to see if there were ways to maybe go back up and get him," Holmes said after Day 2 of the draft. "The guys in the draft room did a heck of a job keeping me tempered to practice a little bit more patience."
The urge returned when the second round began on Friday. Holmes had been high on Onwuzurike since the 2018 season. Then he re-watched Onwuzurike's 2019 tape last fall -- "re-watched basically his whole season," he said -- and fell in love all over again.
"That’s when I really appreciated his explosiveness and how fast he was," Holmes said.
Eight teams were picking before Detroit in the second round. Eight potential landing spots for Onwuzurike. Holmes started working the phones, looking for a way to move up. When nothing came to fruition, he could've panicked and over-payed. Instead he waited -- in minor agony -- and got his guy.
"Sometimes the draft gods smile on you a bit and bless you with what you were wanting," Holmes said. "And all those guys in the room just kept stressing to stay patient, which was a great suggestion. We were all kind of sweating bullets, but the patience paid off."
In the third round, here came the urge again. While Holmes and the Lions could have benefited from trading down to collect more picks -- they have just two selections on Day 3 -- he said they never really considered that. They were focused on the players in front of them, like DT Alim McNeill and CB Ifeatu Melifonwu.
"It was more discussions of trading up," Holmes said. "Not just for Levi but even when we got into round three there were times where we were thinking, 'Should we move up to get our guy?' But only coming into the draft with six picks, we just tried to make sure that we stayed patient, stayed disciplined and trusted our board."
Holmes said that approach was 'huge' in the case of Melifonwu. Widely projected as a second-round pick, Melifonwu fell into the third round -- and then fell further and further. The Lions really liked him, but their last pick of the night wasn't until No. 101. The longer they waited, the more he jumped off their board.
"He was standing out," said Holmes. "I wouldn’t say like a sore thumb, but he was standing out significantly."
Maybe if cornerback were a more glaring need for the Lions they would have moved up. Instead they waited, which made drafting Melifonwu at 101 an easy decision. He might turn out to be one of the steals of Day 2.
"From a value standpoint at a premium position, let’s just trust our board and trust all the work we put in," said Holmes. "And you really feel good about the value you get."