Perhaps Brad is at the cutting edge of shifting NFL values. This pinned Athletic Football Show segment and our first 2 selections would suggest that. Or perhaps whenever the 2 time NFL Executive of the Year farts, everyone smells trend.
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I think that over the course of the NFL, this evolution has always existed, and the smartest team builders are always ahead of it and then everyone else catches on. Brad to me seems to be one of the guys that is on the trend setter curve, and not the trend matcher curve.
I wish I had better specifics, but I believe Belichick is a good example. I know for awhile in the NFL, having big defensive lineman was a huge trend. It made those guys super valuable, and hard to get. Teams overpaid in either draft capital or cap space to get them. Belichick saw this, and basically said screw it, I am going to go 3-4. While everyone is hyper focused on DL, no one is paying attention to LB. I can have my pick of the litter at LB, and just find 3 good DL to go with it. Then Belichick is a genius, and everyone hyper fixates on LB. Now LB’s are hard to find, so what does Belichick do? Goes right back to finding DL guys.
The Lions are doing something similar. Gibbs will always be the poster child for the new RB era, but basically everyone had the “you do not take a RB in the first round.” Then comes Saquon, and it became “ok, you do not take a RB in the first round, unless he is exceptional.” Then Brad says ok, I’ll take Gibbs, everyone roasted him for it, Gibbs is a fantastic talent and now everyone is fully on the “ok, it’s ok to take a RB in the first.”
I don’t think Gibbs does as well on other teams as he does in Detroit. I think Gibbs is a great player, I was super excited when we took him. However, Brad took him because he knew that with our offensive line, which very few other teams have, Gibbs wouldn’t just be good. He would be exceptional. We can fully maximize both his running and pass catching abilities. If a bad oline team takes Gibbs I think he would be a good player, occasional home run hitter, but no where near as good as he is on the Lions.
I really think it comes down to it’s as simple as Holmes is looking at the big picture. He sees what positions are being over picked, or lets say it like this. Brad is a fisher. He sees a pond that is being overfished, so he goes to another pond. Since he is fishing alone, he has the whole place to himself, until word gets out. Then guys flock to his pond, and rather than just say “It was nice while it lasted”, Brad has already scouted out a new pond and goes to fish there instead. People say he is crazy, why is he leaving a pond with proven success? Brad just calmly begins fishing his new pond, starts landing more fish and the cycle starts over again.
People will always criticize Brad for moving away from what others are doing, but Brad doesn’t care because he knows that at the end of the day, the goal is to land talent. Brad knows he can find that talent. He doesn’t need that talent to be a specific type of fish, just like he doesn’t need that talent to be a specific position. As long as the talent Brad is pulling is better than other teams talent, the Lions will keep on winning because like they say, it’s Jimmy’s and Joe’s, not x’s and o’s.
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Post draft, Detroit is ranked #4, behind KC, Philly, and Buffalo.
Hard to say, “one step ahead”?
“Trending up”, maybe?
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I’ll take that, hell we drafted at #28. we moved around a bit because we was getting more or less the leftover table scraps of the draft that were left. SO Brad got exactly who he wanted-when he could.
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Brad Holmes in a gif… If he had hair! 
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Excellent post and your pond example nails his flexibility. I think he had to adjust it a bit this year because there were specific areas he wanted to shore up, and so he acted preemptively to assure the few. We’re not in the need-help-everywhere phase anymore, and we’ll be leaking talent at cutdowns in late August for NFL paupers to rummage through.
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I’ve been saying for years that the nfl is about economic principles. There are only so many great big guys that run fast. Figure out where the slack in the market is and exploit it. When the trend is pass, the first team to move to the run gets an advantage and vice versa.
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Great post.
Brad zigs when it’s fashionable to zag. Everyone thinks the Eagles have cracked the code with the dominating DT’s/DE line thing. Brad decides nah, let’s make a huge, fast, athletic Oline instead and grab another weapon for Goff while I’m at it.
Classic Villian behavior.
What’s a post without a Princess Bride gif!
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totally agree with you man brad’s moves are wild but they seem to pay off he really knows how to find talent where others don’t. it’s gonna be fun to see how this all plays out for the lions next season! let’s gooo 
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This wears me out
Every year someone wins the Super Bowl and everyone points THATS HOW YOU DO IT!
Then the next year somone else wins
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not worried about Brad-when he starts doing some “out there” or “WTF” , then I’ll be concerned.
I agree with this.
The fish and pond analogy not so much.
I don’t think Brad is as worried about what everyone else is doing as much as what is right for the Lions.
Working with Dan they have established parameters and characteristics to be a Lion.
Cultural fit, athletic fit, scheme fit.
To use your analogy, He will get players in the same pond or a different pond than other teams.
He has a specific type of player he is looking for and isn’t worried about what other teams are doing or analyst are saying he should do.
As he has said many times.
Not everyone can be a Lion.
Hasn’t it always been about building the tranches first to be successful? Some teams actually follow the model.
We can cheer Brad all day but of the Lions 5 starting OL last season only one was a BH pick while 3 were drafted by his predecessor Quinn and one a FA signing.
At one time the cowboys believed in this philosophy and had the best ol in the NFL. The problem began when they started to believe it was skill guys who were great and the OLine got old and bad. Now look at how good they are.
To Brads credit, the starting Dline should be represented by at least 3 or 4 BH picks next season.
I mean, okay.
It isn’t like Decker or Ragnow are problems that Holmes needs to solve. He’s drafted Sewell and three guards who should make up 60% of the line within the next year, it is possible that with Manu and one of the guards groomed to replace Ragnow the line will be entirely Holmes grown. I don’t think he’s been deficient there
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He’s really been adding young talent to the oline.
Sewell, Manu, Mahogany, Sorsdal, Ratledge, and Frazier. That’s 6 draft picks. I include Sewell because sometimes people forget how young he still is. Still only 24. In fact all 6 of those guys are 24 years old or under.
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While Graham Glasgow was technically a Bob Quinn draft pick, he was also run off the team because they needlessly jerked him around then lowballed him so Glasgow left and went to Denver. The only reason he came back was because those clowns were gone and he could play with Decker and Ragnow again, so I would count him as a second Brad FA signing.
I think Brad is a step ahead. Realizing culture is more important than talent in many cases was the first revelation. Next came came the identity… GRIT-KNEECAPS-POUND THA ROCK… there are multiple ways to construct a winner…
I think the closer we get to the season, the better our draft will feel… again.
Tyliek feels like a 7-8 year NT/DT to me. I bet he finishes the 2025 season with 3 sacks and a 70 plus rating. I think they targeted Reader last year, saw what he did for the run D, and targeted Tyliek and Grant in the even Mykel and Stewart weren’t doable.
Zietler was a a stud, and Glass is versatile for sure… but these guys were 7.2 RAS guys 10-12 years ago. Frazier and Tate are 9.5-9.9 guys.
Teslaa is an athletic freak who can block, catch and run…. If his Arkansas film was it, then it would feel a bit risky. He showed he could separate, run after catch, and block in the sec. There are 1,000s of yards and a few dozen TD highlights from Hillsdale too. Between the two schools his hands, instincts, and athletic traits can be cobbled together to give a pretty fair assessment.
Hassanein feels like a Rodrigo type pick. Fans will pull for him. I think we have a DE3-4 here to grab 3-5 sacks a year in 300 snaps or so.
I actually believe one of our 7th rounders makes the team two.
My point is we got guys who we love, that I can already see the fit.
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