Don’t agree with everything the guy has done, especially in free agency. But damn, two years in, hard to argue with his ability to find guys who can contribute in every round of the draft. Like, sure, compared to what the lions have had at GM the last couple decades, not exactly a murderers row of genius talent evaluators. But am I crazy for thinking we might be looking at something special?
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No.
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This man is the best GM in Lions history. Give him time to work his magic and we will have a championship caliber roster.
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I mean if he keeps hitting on draft picks at this rate, talent wise our roster could look like a Bills or Tampa Bay team sooner than later
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I was thinking about this after yesterday, Hutch, Joseph, Rodrigo, Paschal, Mitchell and now Houston have all contributed this year. Throw in Jamo will be starting soon and the 2022 draft has been exceptional
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Just looking how the rebuild is going is answer enough. Taking it a step further, we are coming off back to back years with dead cap $ in excess of $35 MILLION each year. Going into 2023 are dead space is under $1 million. Sometimes this is overlooked, our cap has been straightened out from the previous regime. This helps explain the lack of FA talent we have been able go after.
We now have a great base of young talent, some great draft picks coming up AND room to find a couple of viable FA’s.
Holmes is building a legacy before our eyes. Most won’t see it until it’s upon us.
Holmes gets an A+ in my book!
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The 2022 draft class has a chance to he all tike good if we hit on Jamo:
Two superstars (maybe 3 with Kerby), a versatile DLineman, two late round starters and then Houston and potentially Lucas with legitimate paths to impactful roles.
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Yes, you’re crazy. It’s too early to tell.
It’s good he hit on St Brown and CuJo. Rodrigo surprised even them. These are pluses, but there are still losses amassing due to a lack of talent, while a 1st round pick still recovers from a pre-draft ACL injury. Where’s Iffy, Paschal and Levi?
I’m definitely not leaning toward the “something special” grade. Let’s see how things play out another year before grading him.
His drafting through two years is far above expected.
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I’m not worried about Paschal at all.
But Iffy & Levi are busts.
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I’m worried about both until I see them play a 17-game season.
And why should we expect every pick he ever makes to be a hit? Every GM has bust picks, but the good ones hit way more often than they don’t, just like Holmes.
For every Levi, there’s a St. Brown, Rodriguez, and Joseph.
And he hasn’t even spent that much money in FA either. It’s too early to judge his FA skills because he hasn’t spent any money.
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Even if those two are busts Brad’s hit rare so far is obscene.
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Correct, I mean the standard for evaluation in the NFL is expected to be around 70% range. If you can’t grade in that area scouts are fired. Leaving an extra 20-30% to account for misses because it’s inevitable. Human beings judging other human beings
I give him an A for drafting so far. You might be right regarding too early to judge FA but I’m still going to give him a C in that area
I don’t even knock him much for free agency. He’s not using it to finalize a roster. He’s looking for low end bandaids to patch holes while building through the draft. I’m going to wait and see what he does as this team gets closer to competing. Next year I believe is the target and where we’ll see the shift in free agent philosophy. I’ve been very impressed with Holmes so far.
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I’m going to give Levi next season before I officially put him in bust category. The flashes I saw his rookie season make me think he can really be a player if that surgery worked and he’s healthy. If not then cut bait and move on.
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Yup - agreed.
Yup - both of his drafts have been pretty damn sweet
We’re gonna need cap space to sign OUR OWN FA superstars that Brad has bought in.
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When we reach this point, things will get interesting. It’s where the good/great teams have to get very creative with cap usage. Still 2-3 years out before it’s a concern.
We will have an O-Line we need to keep in the top tier while continuing to build the D.
In 3-4 years if we want to keep the studs we get, we will need a QB on a rookie deal. Do we draft him in 23 or 24?
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To be fair… we really need to know what the motives and goals were in free agency….
Would 5-12 last year, or 8-9 this year have made everyone feel better? Sure… BUT what if getting there had us on the hook for C Kirk’s, Darious Williams, and F Oluokun’s salary cap hits…
Foyesade was rated one of the better young lbs in FA last year, but his 45m contract shocked me. His 6.5M hit this year isn’t so bad…. But 19M the next 2 years, and 2 dead cap next year? Ughh! Low off grade… lots of tackles, no picks and 1 sack-
C Kirk- he’s played far better than most expected. He should end up with about 1100 yards and 10-11 tds…again 7.5M wasn’t a bad hit for that production THIS year, but 21.5M each year with big dead money the next 3 years?
D Williams- his 7M cap hit isn’t awful this year, but 12M and then 10M in 2024 is pretty rough given he grades out worse than Will Harris, and similar to Mike Hughes.
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My point is Holmes has our books in order, most of our success is tied to Goff, improved coaching and mostly his really solid drsft classes.
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if we choose to spend 42M apy on 3 outside free agents, I would be that those guys and this upcoming drsft class to us to 11-6 next year…. Not over paying to get from 3 to 7 wins and stifling the development of our rookie classes
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Watching this team since the 80’s it seemed like we were lucky if any pick hit besides the 1st round. Brad is nailing it. Building this team thru the draft the last 2 years is starting to get results.
I didn’t see anyone post Alim The Dancing Bear also add to the list of hits. He has come on the last 2 weeks.
This off-season I believe Free Agents will seriously consider coming to Detroit to WIN. The culture is changing as well as expectations.
With Brads hit rate on drafting and this off-seasons Free Agency the 2023 season we should contend for the Division and a playoff run. I don’t drink anymore but shoot this Honolulu Blue Kool-Aid has me thinking Superbowl in the next few years.
Dream Big the culture is changing.
GO LIONS ROAR!!!
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