LIONS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER BRAD HOLMES END OF SEASON QUOTE SHEET
January 23, 2025
Opening Statement: “So look, obviously, fell short of the goals that we set out to accomplish this year and it stung. It’s humbling, but I won’t allow it to discredit all of the positives that we were able to accomplish as well this season. Franchise record of wins and another division title and being undefeated on the road, being undefeated in the division in a – call it what it is though, a historically tight division race this year. The whole organization had a hand in that, and I can’t thank the players enough for all of their sacrifice and strain and commitment and their response through the adverse moments that arose. I thought (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) did a phenomenal job having the team prepared. Look, 15 wins, that’s hard to do in a year where you don’t have all of the attrition that we had to deal with to get 15, but on top of all of the attrition that we had to deal with to get – I mean that’s about as difficult as it gets. So, that was a heck of a job by him and the whole staff, the whole coaching staff. We saw a lot of players make jumps and get better and continue to improve. So, I was happy for those guys and our fans, they still – once again, they showed up and did their part and they upheld their end of the bargain. I wish we could have done more for them. I’ll never forget, we were down in Houston and a close friend of mine that I went to college with, that was his first away game that he had attended and he couldn’t stop talking about what our fan base, how they showed up and basically invaded Houston, and he was just in awe. I would just tell him – and that was just the only away game that he had ever seen, but they take so much pride and again, just wish that we could have done more for them. But hey look, it happened. It happened and you can’t soak it back, you can’t mope a reversal of the unfortunate outcome, so there’s literally nothing else to do but pick yourself up and get back to work. There is nothing else to do, so that’s what we’re going to do. That’s what we will do, and the process has already started.”
On how close the team is to winning a Super Bowl and what they need to do to take a step forward next season: “Yeah, I just think that we just stay the course and just keep building like we’ve been. I do think that we’re very close. Obviously, I thought that we were very close this year, but nothing is going to alter what our approach has been in terms of trying to continue to improve and keep building. Obviously, I do think that we are very close, obviously felt really good about this season, but fell short. We’re going to stay committed and stay committed to the process.”
On the urge to overreact and make changes after having an early exit in the playoffs: “Yeah, obviously it sucks, it’s humbling, but no overreaction. Honestly, just what I was talking about that there is nothing else to do but get back to work. You guys have heard me talk about trying to battle recency bias and not being a prisoner of the moment. We just fell short, and it wasn’t our day, but no. I don’t think that you can be a prisoner on the moment and just kind of make all of these crazy whole changes. Now we will assess and evolve like we always do every year, and we will work to improve, but literally, there is nothing else to do but get back to work and that’s what we have been saying from day one. It’s all about the work and that’s what we will continue to do.”
On how he weighs their approach to the offseason with the thought that they could be one move away from the Super Bowl: “Yeah, it’s a fair question. It’s probably relative of what you would say, ‘Is there is a window? Is there a window that you need to stay in?’ I think that we’ve done a good job of doing our best we can to avoid windows and I understand that contracts come up when contracts come up and stuff happens, but we feel so good about our young core and young nucleus of players, and we feel really good about our quarterback and how he’s playing and him having a – let’s call it an MVP caliber season this year. So, I just think that all of the pieces are in place that I don’t really feel walls closing in or a window and again, we kind of make an effort to avoid those kinds of things.”
On where he thinks that the team needs to improve and if they need to add more pass rushers: “When you’re down five defensive ends due to injury, then I don’t know who has a sixth, seventh and eighth effective pass rusher. So, when you get down that low, then yes you can say – but when we were at full health, I thought our pass rush was pretty good. I thought the whole defense – I think it was self-explanatory in terms of the numbers of what we were able to produce before that attrition happened. But we’ll always look at all areas and we’ll always add competition at all areas. You guys have seen us do it before. We drafted an inside linebacker in the first round when we had a pretty damn good linebacker room at the time. We doubled down at – we don’t really go into it with that mindset. We just try to add the best players that we think fit, add the best competition, obviously free agency will be upon us quickly, that’s when you can do the fun stuff of the depth chart, filling in holes on the depth chart, but after that we just kind of find the best players.”
On if he is at a point where he would sacrifice draft picks for a veteran player to get over the last hump: “Yeah, well I think we’ve done that in the past where we’ve added some veteran players, whether it’s free agency or – we had to trade for a veteran pass rusher and expend draft capital for that player. So, we’re not scared of that. It has to be with the right player, so you can’t look at it in kind of a transactional mindset and say, ‘Well we have to get this veteran player and get rid of-’ Well if it’s the right veteran player that can help us and it’s the right fit, then we have no problem doing it if it’s going to help our football team. But we’ve always said that we’re going to build through the Draft, and I think that’s why we are in the position that we are in from a ‘window standpoint’ of having the comfort to keep building like we have been.”
On if it felt like a Jenga tower falling over after spending time building the defense and having so many injuries this season: “I never looked at it in that analogy, that’s a pretty good one. But no, I’m going to make sure I answer this because there’s a lot of ways that I can answer this. I’ve always told you all as we approach this time with player acquisition when we’re signing guys from free agency or drafting guys, I’ve always been very upfront with you all about how it’s the names on the depth chart when we’re not playing football. It’s going to change unfortunately, and I’ve told you guys, ‘We’re looking at this thing, what’s it going to look like November and December?’ And that’s why me and (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) are so heavily concentrated on depth, depth, depth, even though when sometimes it’s like, ‘Now why didn’t you sign that most expensive free agent?’ Well, we’re trying to accrue depth because this kind of stuff happens. So, we’ve kind of stuck true to that, but because I’ve always thought about that, when the injuries happened, I guess I’m mentally prepared for them a lot better. Now, you don’t know to what extent it is, but really, from a negative emotions standpoint, I just feel bad for the players, really. I feel like the players put so much into it and a lot of times, it’s bad luck. When you look at some of these injuries of how they happened, they were some of just bizarre. So, I just hate it for the players because they put way too much into it to get the rash of bad luck. But in terms of how we roll, I say from a positive standpoint or a positive emotion, it actually kind of fuels me and it fueled our personnel department as the attrition piled up to like, ‘What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?’ It happened, just like I said that the Divisional loss happened, what are you going to do? The injuries happened, you can’t pout them back to health. Again, you hate it for the players, but what are you going to do about it? I do think that our personnel department did a really good job in terms of responding and doing what they had to do and a lot of credit just to the process so we weren’t scrambling, we weren’t finding guys at the last minute. A lot of guys that we added were identified early on in the process and guys that we thought were going to fit and they did. And also, credit to the coaches just getting those guys ready to play and contribute that quickly. That’s very hard to do. But yeah, I don’t really – it sucks, yeah, but it happens.”
On how much of an obstacle it is to rebuild the staff after losing former Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson and former Lions Defensive Coordinator Aaron Glenn: “Obviously there’s difficulty because I have so much respect for the unknown that you can’t know exactly what’s going to happen. Obviously, we were prepared to lose those guys, those guys were great coaches and just call it what it is, we were lucky to have both of them this year. But I know that (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) has been preparing for it and I have the full faith and trust in Dan to make sure that we’re going to have the right people in place in those spots and he’s had to encounter that before. Not at the coordinator level, but other position coaches, and it’s always worked out, so it’ll be good.”
On some of the characteristics that he looks for in a coordinator: “I think he’s going to have to be adaptable, he’s going to have to be smart, he’s going to have to be able to adjust, make sure that he’s putting the players in the best position to succeed, and so those are some of the characteristics that I think are a good culture fit for a coach here. I think that our identity kind of shows, so most coaches that choose to take a position here, same as a player, I think that they know what they’re about to walk into in terms of how we play and what our standards are.”
On how former Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson’s departure affects Lions QB Jared Goff and how confident he is in Goff to continue to succeed without him: “I feel very confident in that just because that’s the other thing with coordinators leaving and if there’s tweaks to scheme and all of that. As long as (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell)’s the head coach here and as long as I’m here, those are things that we talk about that are not going to change. So, maybe a scheme tweak here and there, but if a player’s going to come in here, he’s a Detroit Lion or he’s not. Same as that question about a coach coming here. I think Jared in particular, that’s something that I know is at the forefront of Dan’s mind in terms of what’s going to be the best thing for him. So, I have faith that everything will be OK.”
On if he believes that Lions QB Jared Goff’s success was a product of former Lions Offensive Coordinator Ben Johnson’s system: “No, I can’t say that. Obviously, he was very productive with Ben as a coordinator, but he had a lot of prior success before he even got here as well in a completely different system, and I think he’s a better quarterback, a more mature quarterback now than he was then when he had early success, so I don’t foresee that. Again, I think the guy’s in his prime, he’s gotten better and better every year, and when I say prime, I think just entering it because he keeps ascending. I think every single year we’ve been here, the next year has been, ‘Man, he’s playing at a high level.’ And the levels keep improving. So, again, I just have a lot of faith in (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) and I know that he’ll make sure that Jared’s going to be in a good position.”
On if it will be a challenge to keep the assistant coaches they want to keep if they will have opportunities with the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears: “It’s obviously a challenge because you always – you want to keep the good ones obviously, and guys that you’ve gotten comfortable with and proved that they fit here, but that’s just – it’s just the nature of this business and it’s something that you just have to expect, you’ve got to prepare for it that it’s going to come, that that’s part of the job. It’s not only in coaching, it’s in personnel as well, so I’ve always said it’s hard to keep the good ones, but I understand that when guys want to poach guys from our program, you’ve just got to be prepared for it.”
On if he needs to wait for new coordinators to be hired to see their philosophies in order to make personnel decisions that fit their systems: “No, that probably goes back to kind of what I was saying earlier about, me and (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) are aligned. That’s the great thing about what we – me and Dan are so aligned in what the vision is of a player coming in here on this team. So look, I’ve been in a lot of different regimes and under a lot of different coordinators and I’ve probably heard every linebacker term, there’s a MIKE and BUCK and a MAC and a – you’re either a linebacker for the Detroit Lions or not, we don’t alter that from a personnel standpoint. He’s a linebacker, we’re scouting a linebacker for the Detroit Lions, we’re not looking for a MAC for somebody’s – and I think that’s the great thing about me and Dan, and that’s just the foundation, that’s the standard, we play a certain way and I think that’s been a vivid, vivid display for the past few years, about what type of player we want. So, I understand the question. I do understand the question because I get it, man, new coordinator comes in, it’s like, ‘Well, I’ve got to have this kind of guy, and I have this kind of guy.’ And look, we scout everybody, we look at everybody, but there are certain core intangibles that, I don’t care what the arm length is of a specific player if he doesn’t play like how we need him to play, then it doesn’t fit.”
On how he is a better general manager from having to deal with the attrition the team faced this season: “That’s a good question. So, this was the first year – especially the attrition at one spot, I mean, obviously linebacker we got really hit, we got hit in training camp at linebacker, then it trickled into the season. But pass rusher, and this was the first time we’ve had to trade for a pass rusher this year, and I will say that was the most difficult player acquisition journey that I’ve ever dealt with. Look, you can talk about – you can look at all these names of all these starting defensive ends in the NFL, but when you start doing the work and you start making the calls, that thing shrinks down. From an availability standpoint, that thing shrinks down like this, and a lot of the guys – look, we have an early – kind of have an early trade deadline, so you start calling these other teams and these other GMs and they might have four rushers. And so, forget the starters, those guys aren’t even available. We’re talking about thirds and fourths, and I can’t really disagree with them, where they say, ‘Look, we’ve got two-plus months of football left and I trade you one and then we get another one hurt and then we’ve only got two.’ And I was like, ‘I didn’t really expect you to be rational and think about it that way.’ But it’s true, so there wasn’t, so when we got (Lions DL) Za’Darius (Smith), he was one of a small handful of guys that were actually available to actually get that we felt was going to compete and contribute at a starter level. So, that one was – I think that one, just going through that experience, I can say just sharpened me up a little bit, and after the Thanksgiving Day game, I know multiple people in our personnel department, including myself, never experienced poaching three players on a practice squad in one day. That’s – because you’re committed to that player for three weeks, and there’s a process to poach a player from a practice squad, but never done that. You poach one guy and then, OK, that’s your one poach, and that might be your one poach for weeks and weeks and weeks, but to do three in one day, that was a unique experience. But again, when that happened, we were very motivated. It wasn’t a sour sulk, all these guys that had to go on IR that morning, and all the guys were just excited, they were motivated, they were encouraged to go in that process and we were able to identify guys that were able to come in and contribute.”
On Lions OL Christian Mahogany and Lions OL Giovanni Manu’s development and if Mahogany is ready to be a starter next season: “Yeah, feel good about both of them. You saw it early on – it’s funny, both of them, I thought, were in completely different places when OTAs started, and Mahogany kind of started the OTAs like, ‘Man, he looks like he’s – it’s not too big for him.’ He just stepped right in and kind of knew what to do, where Manu was the complete opposite. He’s like, ‘Man, I’ve never had this kind of lingo that I had to remember and snap cadence and all that stuff.’ But – and credit to our coaches, actually, when Christian had to take the time off being on NFI, when we returned him, me and (Lions Head Coach) Dan (Campbell) were kind of like, ‘He’s a rookie, he’s missed this much time.’ The medical staff and the trainers knew he was in good shape physically, but we were like, ‘If he can help, he can help, if he can’t –‘ You know how we are with rookies, and he was like – he jumped right in, you could see it noticeably in practice where it’s like, ‘OK, wow, we’ve got to get this guy active, oh wow.’ And so, I think he just has to continue improving, continue to work on his game, I know that he will do that, but I do think that he can make that jump. And then, Gio was the same way, if you saw – if you’ve watched the film of Gio in OTAs and you watched the film of Gio in practice, I mean, it literally is night and day, and so that’s a credit to (Lions Offensive Line Coach) Hank (Fraley) and (Lions Assistant Offensive Line Coach) Steve Oliver and all those guys just working with him, and a credit to him because he was conscientious of making sure that he’s improved. So, excited about both of those guys’ futures, for sure.”
On Lions CB Terrion Arnold’s season and his development starting all season: “Kind of similar where we knew that it wasn’t going to be too big for him psychologically. He’s a highly confident kid, and had some up and down moments early on, had some aggressive moments, which was a good thing, didn’t have any timid moments. But I think all those snaps that he played are going to serve him well going forward, and then you just saw, the waters were a little choppy early and then you saw the waters kind of calm down, kind of midpoint to later in the season. So, very high expectations for him going forward. Again, we all know how he’s wired, he’s wired the right way, he’s long, he’s athletic, he’s got instincts, he’s tough, he’ll tackle, and so all those reps are just going to improve his confidence even more.”
On the chances of bringing Lions G Kevin Zeitler back next season: “Yeah, I thought Zeitler did a good job this year. It’s different when you’re changing completely different schemes and kind of early on, he kind of had to get used to how we were doing things, but once he got adjusted into that, I thought he did a really good job. A player of that age, you’ve just got to have conversations with him. We had conversations on exit day and then we’ll just continue to have dialog and just kind of see where it goes.”
On Lions CB Carlton Davis III’s season and if there is mutual interest in him returning: “Yeah, I thought we got good – I thought we got very good play from him. I will be honest, I thought that he played better this year than he did the year before, that last year in Tampa, and he’ll tell you that too. But I thought we got what we wanted to get. Obviously, unfortunate that we had to lose him and be without, but we’re aware of not only just Carlton, (Lions G Kevin) Zeitler, but we’re aware of a lot of other guys that are either on expiring contracts that had good contributions to our team this year, or guys that are worthy for an extension or in consideration for an extension. So, no intense action yet, but we’re very aware of it and we’ll go through our normal process, and if we have updates, we’ll make sure you guys know.”
On possible player extensions and how Lions DL Aidan Hutchinson’s injury will affect his contract negotiations: “Yeah, we’re working through all of that. Again, it’s not always in our control. We might have our plans and processes, but it takes two people to get something done. That’s not a negative comment, it’s just that you just don’t know what that player and their camp and all that kind of stuff are thinking. So, we haven’t gotten to those intense dialogues yet, so that’s going to be the only thing, but we have our philosophy, we have our process, but we’ll just see how it goes.”
On what the priority is this offseason to ensure the offensive line maintains its high level of play: “The whole thing, that whole unit, it’s not a specific position, it’s not, ‘Oh, it’s got to be a future left tackle or it’s a starting guard or someone to develop behind (Lions C) Frank (Ragnow).’ I think when you start going in those kind of specific avenues you can kind of ignore something else, and I just think you’ve got to keep the whole garden watered at all points. And so, it’s going to be the whole unit, because just like you said, I mean, that is – that’s the engine for us. And so, I don’t care how good we ever get on the offensive line, that one right there is too important for not only our team, our quarterback, everything, it’s our identity, man. So, I think just that alone is just – it’s always going to be at the forefront.”
On Lions S Kerby Joseph’s season and his level of interest in getting him a new contract: “Yeah, I mean, again, that’s on the docket in terms of to be looked at and discussed. We know where he’s at from an eligibility – look, he’s an All-Pro player, I mean, I don’t know how you don’t make the Pro Bowl with nine interceptions, whatever that is, but he’s an All-Pro player and he’s been – he’s another one that’s gotten better and better, so he’s one that has proven that he’s a Detroit Lion, he fits, he fits our culture. It’s hard to find ballhawk guys that will tackle like how he does, and I think that’s what makes him unique, so again, we haven’t had any intense dialogue about that yet, but obviously we want to keep the good players here.”
