As far as he knows, Ross Tucker has never met Brad Holmes -- "but I love that dude," Tucker said Tuesday on 97.1 The Ticket. "I mean, their draft last year was hilarious." Tucker means this in the best way possible.
"Every pick was like he was flipping the double-bird to all the analytics guys or all the people that say, 'You can’t take this position that high. You can’t take a running back at 12, certainly not the second running back in the draft who’s not considered the elite guy. You can’t take Jahmyr Gibbs at 12.' Well, really? Did you watch the Lions play last year? He was kind of a big impact on their success," said Tucker, a former NFL offensive lineman who's now an NFL insider for Audacy Sports.
In addition to taking Gibbs No. 12, the Lions drafted an off-ball linebacker in Jack Campbell No. 18, "and off-ball linebackers at this point are the running backs of the defense," said Tucker. And in the second round, they took a tight end in Sam LaPorta and a nickelback/safety in Brian Branch. They didn't take a player at a so-called premium position until quarterback Hendon Hooker in the third round as a developmental project behind Jared Goff.
And they still wound up with four key contributors on a team that reached the NFC title game.
"I think the Lions were the impetus, and we saw it in free agency and I think we’ll see it more in this draft, in people not being quite as concerned about positional value," said Tucker. In other words, "How 'bout just drafting good players?"
"We get so caught up in, it has to be certain positions if you’re drafting this high, and premier positions," Tucker said. "What good does it do you to draft a guy at a quote-unquote 'premier position' if he’s not as good or maybe not good at all, which is even worse. There’s nothing wrong with the Lions drafting four starters that all played well as rookies and helped them."
The impact has already been felt in free agency, where Josh Jacobs and Saquon Barkley revived a depressed running backs market by landing deals worth over $12 million per year. Tony Pollard and D'Andre Swift cashed in as well.
"Just look at the running backs and the off-ball linebackers in free agency," said Tucker. "I think some teams said, 'You know what, we need to have better players at these positions. We know it’s maybe not the position where you want to pay 'em $20 million a year, but we need better players.' I do think a lot of teams out there learned lessons from the Lions and I’m curious to see how that plays out in the draft."
As for what the Lions do this year, Tucker would like to see Holmes trade back from No. 29 if he can't move up for one of the top-ranked players on their board.
"If they feel really good about 20 to 25 players, if they don’t go up and get one of those unless one falls, I’d rather see them trade down. I do think that’s what’s probably in the best interest of the franchise," said Tucker. "And at this point it's kind of like, In Brad Holmes we trust, right? If he trades down to have a pick in the 30’s or even early 40’s ... he probably thinks there are 10 guys who are all similar and if we can go down and still get one of these guys and get more picks, that’s the right business decision for the Detroit Lions."
What Holmes won't do is stand pat and pick a player at No. 29 just to appease the hometown crowd, with the draft in Detroit. Tucker thinks the Chiefs fell victim to this thinking last year with the draft in Kansas City by reaching for Kansas State defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah, who didn't start a single game last season.
"I am convinced that the Chiefs took that defensive end out of Kansas State last year at the end of the first round because the draft was in Kansas City. He was not supposed to be a first-round pick and I think that they felt some pressure to do that," Tucker said.
Holmes said last week that the Lions "have to do the right thing for the organization," even if that means disappointing the fans downtown by trading out of the first round.
“Say that happens where the fans have been waiting there all night for the pick and we get an offer that we really can’t turn down, it makes sense, we have to do the right thing," said Holmes. "Hopefully, our fans will forgive us."