INDIANAPOLIS — The Detroit Lions are fresh off their best season and find themselves closer to championship contention than in the past three decades, but that doesn’t mean GM Brad Holmes is the least bit satisfied.
He's also not about to change the formula that’s worked so well, at least well enough to transform the Lions from bottom-dwellers to to contender status.
“I'm a firm believer in surrendering the results to the process,” Holmes said at the scouting combine Tuesday. “So the process will always be numero uno. I think once you start kind of relishing in your achievements, I think that's when you start, you could say to maybe take your foot off the gas, and you can get yourself in big trouble. So I do think this league is too hard to ever let your foot off the gas. I've always said at length no matter how good we get as a team, no matter how good our roster is going to get, we're always going to take this same process and keep our foot on the gas to improve as much as we can.”
As head coach Dan Campbell pointed out in his own media session earlier Tuesday, the Lions’ “process” involves a draft-and-develop philosophy above anything else.
The only difference these days is the Lions aren’t picking anywhere near as high as they once did, perhaps the one drawback to the on-field success.
Even there, Holmes sees some value in having some flexibility with the Lions currently holding the 29th overall selection in the 2024 NFL draft — two years after they had to No. 2 overall pick (which they used on Aidan Hutchinson).
Holmes can only hope to have as much success with this draft as he did last year when he moved up and down the board and landed one of the best draft classes in the league with running back Jahmyr Gibbs, linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta, safety Brian Branch and quarterback Hendon Hooker.
“The spot that we're in, it is exciting to have that flexibility because a lot of things can happen when you're sitting back there,” Holmes said. “It's kind of … it's not I don't want to paint this as pressure but you're kind of out of the top 10 beauty pageants, you know, and you're just kind of like, look man, this is find the best football player.”
The Lions currently are scheduled to have seven picks in the 2024 draft, including two in the third round but none in the fourth.
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