I just think it’s a damn shame that we have a championship caliber offense (and all-pro DE) and we are wasting the best years of their careers because our GM is not putting a bare-minimum NFL defense on the field.
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But even if they expected Ragnow to play. Everyone and their mother knew. He’s probably on the last leg and wouldn’t make it a full season plus the playoffs anyway. Do we not remember the playoff of 2023? Where are the injury report every week in the playoff basically just said yes, and he didn’t practice all week because he was too banged up but still played.
Everyone and their mother knew before the draft this year, branch, and Kirby were gonna be out until close to Thanksgiving. Arnold at a minimum was gonna be suspended for almost half the year. They didn’t keep Amik.
What did they do to address it? One league average corner. Mid draft pick. And retaining their guys.
This roster just on paper has regress dramatically since 2023
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Good GMs would have used the multiple 3rd rounders we’ve traded away, not to move up.. but to take depth peices at tackle, safety, etc. That way, when your older players move on, you have someone who has been in your system and developing already. This is what seperates the good franchises from the bad. Being ahead of the game in personell.. not chasing, feeling desperate to fill holes. Brad holmes did very well with an abundant amount of resources.. which most adequate gms should do. Hes been miserable after that.
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He was the same as Decker, sooner than decker. I don’t remember if decker never practiced in 23 either but he sure didn’t in 24 and 25
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Yes the talent has regressed but there’s a lot of bad luck involved, are you going to deny that? If Branch and Kerby are in there that’s a massive difference and if Alim didn’t suffer a career altering injury that he still doesn’t look fully recovered from. Those are huge pieces of a defense that aren’t there or are shells of what they were and lots of money that’s being wasted on….bad luck.
The two things I’ll give Brad shit for is his lack of addressing corner, the 2024 draft was a big part of this fail, and his utter reluctance to properly replace Montgomery, I have no idea what he was thinking there but as I said before if you don’t think pure bad luck hasn’t played a factor in this the last two years then I vehemently disagree.
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Bad luck absolutely has, that’s true.
Also going to add to the give him shit list - dragging his feet on getting a competent DE opposite Hutch for 2 years and reupping on Davenport for that same amount of time. Then being a jackass when he finally drafted one.
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Hes used up so many resources without any return. 3 3rd round picks for Teslaa? That is a fireable offense right there. He wasn’t even productive in college. And those extra 3rds are where you build depth. Compare our strategies to the rams, who have rebuilt their defense with picks in rounds 2-5. Quinten Lake, Kobe Turner, Braden Fisk, Byron Young, Kamren Kitchens etc. Les snead held onto mid round picks, and often traded back in his drafts, and re-tooled his defense. Its incredible that Holmes worked under him and didn’t seem to learn much.
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Again, they kept the same strength coach even after injuries continued to pile up over multiple seasons. That’s not foresight, that’s stubbornness and a failure to address obvious problems before they become bigger ones.
The same thing happened with the secondary. Holmes could have invested in cornerbacks before they drafted Arnold and Rakestraw, but instead, it felt like he waited until the media started questioning him about the DB situation before doubling down on the position. That’s reactive roster management, not proactive team building.
Honestly, I don’t see a clear understanding of how he can build a roster that can consistently compete for a championship. Yes, the Lions got good quickly, but success creates its own problems: contracts get expensive, players have to be moved, and roster decisions become more difficult. That’s exactly when a GM’s foresight matters most. You have to anticipate those problems before they force your hand. Holmes too often seems to be reacting to them after the fact.
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Millen and Mayhew had some good drafts their first few years as well.
Why cant our GM’s draft past year 3?
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I think Brad listened to his advisors the first year, who begged him to let the draft come to him. And it worked … solid first draft.
It appears Brad developed some unwarranted draft ego, because the last three are looking epically bad as a whole.
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Right now, Brad is a victim of his own success. It’s hard for rookies to come in and crack this roster. He’s turned us from a laughing stock into a perennial playoff team and now all of a sudden he’s a bad GM? At least some of the blame has to fall on coaching. I am willing to give Petzing more time as he’s only been here two games and the offense hasn’t been terrible based on our injuries. But Shep is not putting these players in a position to succeed. The players don’t look like they know what the F they’re supposed to be doing. That’s a recipe for disaster if you’re the GM.
The Lions have had two Hall of Fame players since Dick “Night Train” Lane. Barry and Calvin. Stafford would’ve been the third had he stayed a Lion. Now we have five or six viable candidates on this roster alone. Sorry, but I’m not jettisoning Brad at this point.
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Dan Campbell definitely owns this too
This is the right outlook 100%. Sure he has drilled the top 45 picks in his career as GM but he deserves a ton of credit for that as well. He has drafted a 1/2 dozen potential HOFers in a 3 year span. Yes, 2024 was bad…not going to deny or back him on that at all. But why is 2025 decided as a bad draft?
The problem is BH was soo good his first 3 years that if he doesnt land a superstars the following 3 he should be fired. Like what??? This team is loaded with talent and it isnt through FA. Its 100% born from the draft. Now i will say i have hated every trade up for “his guys.” Players that sure you might want, but if you dont get them no biggie. You need as many swings at role players as possible. BH has gotten this idea in his head that he can recognize hidden gems and it has failed miserably. This needs to change for sure. But from an overall draft standpoint, he has been one of the better GMs in the league in the last half decade.
Free Agency has been a head scratcher for me. The “fixes” are so minimal that again its hard to not come to the conclusion that BH thinks hes smarter than everyone else. This is where a potential Hot Seat comes into play for me. The Monty replacement plan is ridiculous. The bottom of the barrel CB plan is even worse. You have to have 2 starting caliber corners in the league. We’ve had only one his entire tenure here. Liked the Pacheco signing. Thought it was the right gamble as a potential Monty replacement. But no way that was/shouldve been it.
Gotta do a better job filling out the roster in FA and the back end of the draft.
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This actually kind of makes sense to me. Typically if you get a new job as a GM it’s because the team just cleaned house. So you probably have a very high draft pick. You bring in some good players for a couple years because you suck and are drafting high first round picks, get closer to the nfl average, and now you’re drafting in the middle of the pack with everyone else and huh… Somehow you look like less of a genius all of a sudden
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Not to mention most fans can easily see what a skill player brings to the table. It’s wide open for everyone to see. We are not as adept at watching an offensive guard or a defensive tackle play-in and play-out. We typically recognize them only when they fail. The big nasties take a little longer to develop. They usually don’t come in with the “man” strength they’ll need. Remember Brad inherited a very good offensive line. It was the one good thing Bob did. So the table was basically set for skill players to come in and have immediate success. Now we are having to replace those offensive lineman and it takes time. Hence the struggles.
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I think the Lions have had worse luck than typical, but not extraordinarily bad. The is the NFL. Teams that get through the year without injuries to key guys are champions.
But you also need an front office that anticipates the team will need great depth and invest mid rounders in mid positional value players (IOL, db, lb, rb, dt) so you can weather that storm
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Moore was a good pick? Based on what? I’m actually extremely worried about that pick at this point because he’s shown absolutely nothing at this point.
Brad’s drafting has been decent but definitely worse recently than it was early on.
His pro scouting, though, is ABYSMAL, and it’s hurting this team badly.
He’s become Mayhew.
Both had some great luck with key players, both made questionable moves and struck out a lot, both ended up with salary cap issues.
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Okay, hes only played… 2 NFL games
Draft picks needs some years to actually judge it
Brother Bear
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Rookie DEs usually flash early and you can see hints of talent right away. I’m not seeing anything from Moore. He’s getting dominated at this level.