Detroit Lions have a culture for change and empty spaces to fill various areas of the team’s cast, but that didn’t stop the new general manager of the team from casting some flag bait in Tuesday’s conversation.
Brad Holmes covered a myriad of topics during his session with reporters, recognizing the strength of the 2021 class in a variety of positions. Despite acquiring Jared Goff in an exchange that will become official at the start of the new year of the league, Holmes did not hesitate to speak of the quarterback.
“This draft class is a good class overall. There are some positions of strength,” said Holmes. “I think the defenders’ class is good this year. I like the crop of defenders that are coming out in this year’s draft. This is obviously always a very, very important position. When you’re choosing from the top 10, I don’t think there’s really a position that you can ignore. … When you are in the top ten, it is best to know each position, regardless of your circumstances currently on your list. “
Completing the survey across all positions is a valid point made by Holmes and a necessity for any effective chief of staff, but after adding Goff and a collection of choices in the business that sent Matthew Stafford west, it would appear to be at the end of Detroit’s long list of priorities. Chief among them is the receiver, which coach Dan Campbell admitted on Tuesday, but Holmes’ response certainly sounded as if the Lions weren’t just covering up the position because they found their immediate response in Goff.
“What’s cool about this year is that they are in all different flavors,” continued Holmes. “You have the guy who can really do it all, he can do it out of his pocket, he does it with his legs; you have another guy who probably does a little more with his legs, a little more creative; there is another guy actually, he probably does it more All the different flavors make it very intriguing in terms of when you’re looking at the whole scope of the class of these defenders.
“We think again when you are choosing from the top 10 … make sure you know this class of quarterback very well. I think, to be more elaborate, the intriguing part is that they have their totally different genres and flavors. What has been great about (this) for Lions is that Dan and trainer (Anthony) Lynn were in tune in terms of visions, were clear in terms of when you look at the scheme and this and that and all those minute details , is ‘OK, what do our players do best?’ and ensuring that our players are placed in the best position to succeed. So, do you take the same approach with defenders and see what your superpower is and if that superpower is the best for Lions? “
Frankly, Lions need heroes elsewhere, but this would be an excellent attempt to increase the value of Detroit’s first-round pick, which ranks seventh overall. Lions would not have to do so much to make their choice more valuable than it already is, especially with teams like New England, Washington, Chicago and Pittsburgh sitting behind them in the order of the first round and with no long-term options in place.
It can be a great opportunity to add more draft capital, and with Lions entering the off-season with a need for receiver, guard and security (among depth needs elsewhere), they could use additional picks.