New Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes had his introductory press conference on Tuesday and it was one of the more interesting and enjoyable introductory pressers we’ve had here in Detroit. Lions fans should know, they’ve seen a few of these over the years. There were a lot of things that stood out, here are our top four things that stood out to us.
Holmes is a very passionate man
Some might see that and read “passion” as a guy that likes to yell a lot or gets mad easily. What I mean by it is Brad Holmes demonstrated on Tuesday that his belief in things run deep. From a football aspect he spoke about how he skipped school to watch the 1993 NFL Draft, and how that turned him on to being a scout. He spoke a lot about how important football is to him, and how it’s something that’s a part of his family.
Speaking of family, it was clear as day that Holmes is a family man, and you get the sense that his upbringing was that of a family who believes in hard work and love. Holmes just a has a very warm disposition. I know that doesn’t mean anything when it comes to building a team, but you just couldn’t help but feel happy listening to guy.
Holmes also spoke on the importance of being a black man in this position. He looked up to Ozzie Newsome growing up and hopes that some day people will look up to him. Passion is just oozing off this guy.
The front office is going to be a committee
Nobody outright said this. This is all tea leaf reading. Holmes talked about how Les Snead and the Rams don’t limit their scouting department members to titles and everyone works cohesively as a team. You get the sense that this will be happening in Detroit as well.
There was a clear hierarchy in Detroit under Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia. This led to rumors of infighting and disagreements on who to draft and sign. Under Holmes it would seem like the Lions will be running things as a unit instead of one guy running the show.
You could see that in the way that Holmes said things like, “There will be no ego in the process. Everything is about the team.”
It looks like Holmes plans to build a scouting group that’s not interested in taking any credit for successes and is just interested in primarily having those successes as a unit. This is a complete 180 from the Lions previous regime, and it’s something to be excited about if you’re a Lions fan.
There’s still questions on Stafford and the current roster
I know everyone wants to know what’s happening with Matthew Stafford. It was hard to tell what the exact move is going to be for the Lions at quarterback this offseason. While Holmes did mention that he thinks Matthew Stafford is very talented and his intangibles show on video, he also said that they would still have to evaluate the entire roster as a whole before any decisions are made.
In terms of the rest of the roster, Holmes mentioned that he doesn’t view this as a long-term rebuild. Putting a time length on it is not the mindset they’re going with. In fact, he seems to dislike the word “rebuild” altogether and prefers “retool” instead. That sort of lends to the thought that the Lions won’t be tearing it all down to start a full length rebuild under Holmes.
Although he did say that he’s “very well versed” in the 2021 draft class and mentioned how the team will build through the draft. So we didn’t necessarily come away with a bunch of answers to burning questions, but we at least came away knowing that there will be plenty of evaluating going on.
Not a self-made man
Thus really stuck out. Holmes said that he not a big fan of the term “self made.” If you needed an example of how small this man’s ego is, there you go. This is what the Lions talked so much about previous to this hire. The Lions were looking for someone that could work well with others and put their focus on the team instead of themselves. They wanted someone they could let do their job, but also someone that is open to hearing others and knows that you can’t do it alone. That appears to be Brad Holmes in a nutshell.
When you hear Rod Wood, Sheila Ford Hamp and Chris Spielman talk about those kind of traits, and then see a candidate that displays those traits, it really reaffirms that the Lions did their due diligence and actually found the candidate that they believed was right for the job and fit their image of what that position should be in Detroit.
Whether that equates to wins and success is something we’ll find out later. At this very moment, Lions fans should feel comfortable about the process the Lions went through to find Holme,s and the process they went through before they hired him. We’ll see if it was right or wrong later. There’s no way of telling that now.
