Detroit Lions' Brad Holmes should win Exec of Year again after landing Za'Darius Smith

Bold added by me, a few loud posters were all in on kneejerk but most of the adults on the board understood how this works.
Holmes knows how to negotiate and work the market to get the deal he wants.

# Detroit Lions’ Brad Holmes should win Exec of Year again after landing Za’Darius Smith
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let’s put this into perspective: Holmes could have freaked out and made a knee-jerk trade right when Hutchinson went down, considering the Lions were about to face two huge games at Minnesota and at Green Bay.
But he waited and did his due diligence, calling multiple teams trying to find a pass rusher.

Trying to find the right fit.

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Meanwhile, other defensive players were being taken and Holmes got a sense of the market.

Got a sense of what was a fair deal.

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Here’s another part that amazes me: In many ways, it’s remarkable the Lions got through the past three weeks, winning at Minnesota and Green Bay, without a pass rush.

But Holmes gambled that more players would be available if he waited.

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Can’t argue with any of this. Well done!

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Nah. Brad was too busy watching college games. Got lucky.

/s

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Smith was a good pickup… But Holmes should have won executive of the year before the trade.

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He’s working his way up there into a pretty special class of GMs. Not just current.

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Is there an executive of the decade award? And I’m not saying because of Z Smith. My expectations are not super high for him (he was a good pick up but nowhere near Hutch player). But this man turned the leagues perennial laughing stock into a conf championship team to a SB favorite insanely quickly. Imagine they had picked Fontenot…

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We were trying to get Smith long before that. It took nearly a month of back and forth, posturing, etc to make this deal happen. His persistence and patience paid off.

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