Brad Holmes has earned a whole lot of equity with Lions fans based on his first two drafts as GM. The picks speak for themselves, from first-round stars Penei Sewell and Aidan Hutchinson to Day 2 starters Alim McNeill and Kerby Joseph to late-round gems Amon-Ra St. Brown, James Houston and Malcolm Rodriguez. We missing anyone?
Rico Beard says he needs to see more: "I see two Brad Holmes. I see the Holmes that everybody wants him to be, but I'm not a hopeless romantic when it comes to Brad Holmes. I don't see it."
"A lot of callers think that Brad Holmes is the best thing since sliced bread to hit this city, that Brad Holmes will figure this thing out. 'In Brad Holmes we trust.' Am I just being a hater? Because I do not have complete trust in Brad Holmes. I like what he's doing, but I don't have this unconditional love that a lot of Lions fans have, that no matter what, no matter who he takes, he's going to get it right. I don't see the track record."
Aside from the track record above, Holmes spent eight years as director of college scouting for the Rams and helped them build one of the best rosters in the NFL -- without a single first-round pick at their disposal in the final four drafts of his tenure. Rico says he's "seen other GM's do what he's doing."
"I think he's doing what GM's should do, you need to hit on at least three or four of your draft picks every year. But I don't have that type of love for Brad Holmes that everybody else has. And I'm just wondering, plain and simple, am I being a hater? Because I don't see what everyone else sees. I'm not feeling the way everyone else feels about this man. I don't understand it, I don't get it. Show me what I'm missing."
[shortcode-inline-related expand="1" link="/971theticket/sports/detroit-lions/dan-campbell-on-brad-holmes-ive-got-a-damn-good-gm" headline="Dan Campbell on Brad Holmes: "I've got a damn good GM"" image="/media-library/image.jpg?id=63582914"]To Rico, Holmes' draft picks at No. 6 and No. 18 on Thursday are "going to prove to me how good of a GM he really is."
"Because the pick is not going to be spoon-fed to him. You're going to have to do some research, you're going to have to pick a name over another name and be good with this and have this person fit. I don't want to hear about the culture. Can you get players to win?"
Valenti balances Rico out, calling him "jaded" based on the Lions' history, which makes it "very hard to believe that we have immense confidence in" Holmes.
"No, I'm not ready to put Brad Holmes as one of the handful of best GM's in football, but I would say it's pretty clear he's in the top third," says Valenti.
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