Right. I meant during the season. In the draft he’s a different animal…takes chances for sure. Taking chances is actually putting it politely (e.g. Manu, BroMart, Teslaa).
During the season he’s risk-averse. Part of it may be not wanting to mess up locker room culture. You can call it disciplined, ok. Not much different than risk aversion. And taking a risk on an expiring contract (e.g. Chase Young two years ago) doesn’t mean you can’t sign your own players.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big Brad fan. We’re being modelled after rather than modelling after other teams. But I don’t want to be just at the top year after year. I want to be OVER the top one of these years. Before I die. Please.
Holmes is more of a Ted Thompson type of GM. Build through the draft, fill holes a bit in free agency. Holmes does more in free agency that Thompson did, however. Thompson won 2 Super Bowls and had the Packers as playoff contenders more years than not.
We all know this, and yet certain folks don’t want to accept the reality. It’s what got us where we’re at now.
There’s a lot of video-game GMs who think trading for stars is easy and cheap.
Holmes is rink-averse. That’s why he only takes his guys and crosses so many off his draft list. It’s what worked well. Every GM has plenty of misses, even Roseman.
Does the name Jaelen Raegor sound familiar? First-round pick by Roseman. Bust.
Andre Dillard. First-round bust. Carson Wentz.
He once drafted a RB in the 4th round who never played an NFL game.
His 2011 draft was almost complete trash, if he hadn’t taken Jason Kelce in the 6th round. Had 11 picks that year and only one became a long-term starter.
I’m not saying Roseman isn’t great. He absolutely is. But EVERY general manager misses on a lot of picks, even the best of them.
Holmes’ hit rate has been stellar in comparison to most GMs, so let him do what he does best.
Agreed that those who know ball, know Howie is the man.
I guess I was referring more to the masses who have no idea who traded for AJ Brown, signed Saquon Barkley and Zach Baun, drafted (in round 2) Jalen Hurts, traded numerous picks in order to be in position to select Carter & Davis, rebuilt the Eagles’ CB room with his 2024 round 1 & 2 picks, etc., etc.
I especially love how Roseman gets it by GOING FOR IT when it comes to Super Bowls. I am envious as a Packer fan and, if Detroit keeps having good and even excellent regular seasons followed up by flaming out in the playoffs before reaching the Super Bowl, I suspect a lot of Lions’ fans will start feeling the same way.
I guess the comments I see on TikTok, YouTube and elsewhere online are accurate. Lions fans having tasted some success has turned us into some of the most hyperbolic, sensitive, overreactive and annoying fans in the NFL. Some of the crap I read on here is just insane, lol. Gameday toxicity, I get it. But, this is just sober idiocy at times.
Roseman taking Reagor over Jefferson was one of the worst decisions by any GM this century. But unlike so many NFL GMs – such as the Packers’ Gutekunst who, when he Fs up by taking players like Darnell Savage, Eric Stokes, Center Josh Myers (1 pick before Creed Humphrey), and Lukas Van Ness, Howie immediately acknowledged he F’d up, got rid of Reagor, and traded for AJ Brown.
Moving on from sunk cost mistakes is one of the key attributes of a truly great GM. Howie has made plenty of errors, but he does not waste time trying to cover them up.
Draft and trades is what Philly does. See Howie strikes when players are on 1st year deals especially if they are close to contention unlike Holmes. Both draft well but here’s the difference imo. Brad signs his own guys but you have to be extremely good to get a phat contract from Philly. They will let you go. Philly usually trades for big-time players or sign them as free agents.
Also, Detroit won’t take players with sketchy background but with great talent whereas Philly will. This gives Philly an advantage over a lot of teams if you have great coaching.
15 out of 22 is pretty damn good. Not as good as Detroit’s 16 of 22 though. The only 6 that started elsewhere: Goff, Raymond, Reader, Amik/Reed, Anzalone, Mohammed/Davenport. And if TeSlaa replaces Raymond soon it would get even better.
Agree Holmes is a lot like former Packer GM Ted Thompson and that he is (happily for Lions’ fans) more aggressive in free agency than Thompson ever was.
However, if Thompson won 2 Super Bowls in his 13 years as GM of the Packers I’d sure as H like to know when the other one besides 2010 happened.
And never forget, in his 13 seasons as Packer GM, Thompson had hall of fame QBs behind center for each and every one of those 13 seasons. Thus, while he gets huge credit for selecting one of those QBs (Rodgers) while the other one was still a capable player (Favre), he squandered a lot of years of great QB play with his ultra-conservative/only draft and develop approach to roster building.
Thompson was a good GM despite his rigid refusal to sign free agents or ever trade picks for players, but he is not even close to being in Howie Roseman’s class.
I hear you, Jersey. I’m just disagreeing - and it’s not just semantics.
“Risk” is the wrong lens for making sense of his approach. The question isn’t whether Brad Holmes is a risk-taker or risk-averse. He’s plan-driven.
Every move he makes is made within the framework of his plan. Grabbing Gibbs high wasn’t a “risky” move for Brad because he trusts his scouting and Gibbs’ gifts made for an invaluable fit in the context of the plan for the offense.
Just like Dan’s 4th-down moves aren’t “risky” if you have his understanding – intuitive or analytically driven - of expected value. Going for it on 4th-and-2 inside the opponents’ 40 WILL pay off for your team [edit: over time] if you’re halfway decent on offense, much less if you’re the Lions.
