Brad Holmes has a way with first impressions.
He stood out to the Lions as soon as they met him. And he wowed his former boss, Les Snead, the moment Holmes took the stage at a scouting conference two decades ago.
At the time, Holmes was a scout for the Rams and Snead was a high-ranking exec for the Falcons. At a National Football Scouting conference before the combine, Holmes was presenting an early version of the draft board to an audience that included Snead.
And that's when Snead knew Holmes had 'it,' according to a video shared Thursday by Snead's wife.
"That’s a tough job because no one has said that this player is good or bad or the star of the show," Snead. "It’s these young scouts cutting their teeth for the first time, presenting the draft board to a lot of GM’s and VP’s in the audience. And there was a young man, Brad Holmes, first time presenting -- unbelievable job. At that point in time, Billy Devaney was GM of the Rams and I remember texting Billy after hearing Brad present and said, ‘Hey, that young man’s special.’"
As fate would have it, Snead became GM of the Rams in 2012. He promoted Holmes to director of college scouting the next year, and the year after that the Rams drafted five-time All-Pro Aaron Donald 13th overall. Then two-time All-Pro Todd Gurley 10th overall the year after that.
Holmes held this position for eight seasons, until Thursday when the Lions hired him as GM.
"We are all excited for this opportunity for Brad," Snead said. "He has spent his entire career with the Rams and he earned this position with the Lions due to his dedication to being an astute evaluator of football talent, dynamic intelligence, unwavering leadership and humility. All of those qualities will ensure he is set up to be successful in the next chapter of his career."