Detroit Lions face new challenges, have same goal this offseason: 'We'll be smart'
With winning comes a whole new set of challenges.
Players to pay. Free agents to pursue. Draft picks to evaluate.
And Brad Holmes is ready for them.
Holmes said in his end-of-season news conference Monday he expects the Detroit Lions to be Super Bowl contenders for years to come and is ready to navigate the next set of obstacles to keep them there.
"Will it be different? Yes, it will be different," Holmes said. "Maybe not be as many high-priced external adds, but that’s not required right now. So, we’ll just still keep sticking to our plan and go as normal. I think it’s proven that it’s worked so far for us."
The Lions reached the NFC championship game this season, three years after they finished with one of the worst records in the NFL.
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With Holmes as general manager and Dan Campbell as head coach, they've built one of the league's best rosters, and done so primarily through the draft and with the return they got from the high-profile trade of Matthew Stafford (for starting quarterback Jared Goff and three draft picks).
Goff is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, and all 23 of the Lions' draft picks since 2021 remain with the team.
The Lions have leaned heavily on players on team-friendly rookie contracts during their rebuild, but now that their fortunes have changed, that could as well.
Goff has one year left on the contract he signed with the Los Angeles Rams in 2019 and is in line for an extension that could make him one of the NFL's highest-paid players this offseason. Several players from the Lions' star-studded 2021 draft class are finally eligible for extensions, too, including cornerstone players Amon-Ra St. Brown, Alim McNeill and Penei Sewell.
St. Brown and McNeill are entering the final season of their rookie deals, while the Lions have a fifth-year option on Sewell.
While the Lions have supplemented their roster with mid-tier free agents the past three seasons, Holmes indicated Monday they might not be as active this spring given their new priorities in roster management. Alex Anzalone (now on his third contract with the team), Cam Sutton and Graham Glasgow are among the starters they've signed in free agency.
"It’s one pot," Holmes said. "You’ve got to be very strategic of (how) that pot is divided up or divvied up. But we’ll be smart, and we’ll make the right moves. But yeah, it just changes the landscape a little bit in free agency.
"You’ve got to think back, our first free agency, we didn’t have any real resources to spend. We had to be very selective and try to find an Alex Anzalone or a Kalif Raymond and all those guys. And then last year, we had a little bit more resources and were able to get a Cam Sutton and a C.J. Gardner-Johnson. This year will be a little bit different, but we’ll be smart.”
Holmes said he intends to follow "the same exact plan" this offseason he and Campbell used when they first set out to build the roster. That means identifying culture and system fits in the draft, and not worrying about how any of their moves are perceived outside the building.
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The Lions have seven picks in this year's draft, including No. 29 overall and an extra pick in the third round from the T.J. Hockenson trade.
They've had five first-round picks the past three seasons, tied for most in the NFL with the Baltimore Ravens and New York Jets, all in the top 18. This is the first year since 2018 they won't pick in the top half of the first round.
While blue chip talent will be harder to find lower in the draft, Holmes said he's excited for the challenge and compared it to his first draft in 2021 coming off a COVID-shortened college season that altered the evaluation process.
"That’s exciting for me," he said. "I think back (to '21), you’re picking football players. And we’re always picking football players, it’s just that when we pick football players high, you all have bashed us. But we’ll still continue to pick football players and the guys that are for us."
Ultimately, Holmes said the goal will be to take another step forward in 2024 — and to build a sustainable winner going forward.
"We’ll just kind of continue to look to improve in every area and we will, and we’ve already started that process," he said. "But again, where we ended up, it’s expected. It’ll be expected heading into this year.
"Look, that was a disappointment that we didn’t make (the Super Bowl). And again, that wasn’t a, ‘Man, we got lucky.’ No, that’s what we expected and fell short, but still accomplished a lot. But we’ll improve in every area."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions' Brad Holmes: 'We'll be smart' with roster in offseason
