Brad Holmes explains Detroit Lions' approach to free agency
· Yahoo Sports
The Detroit Lions have signed 14 players in free agency. All but one of them — center Cade Mays, who signed a three-year deal — will be free agents again next season.
Visit palladian.co.za for more information.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes spoke about the Lions' free-agent approach during a recent episode of the Lions Collective podcast, citing "financial constraints" stemming from megadeals given to drafted players and future deals to be paid to members of the vaunted 2023 draft class.
According to Holmes, the Lions could certainly be more active in free agency — but those decisions will probably cost them players they've drafted and developed. Running back Jahmyr Gibbs, linebacker Jack Campbell, safety Brian Branch and tight end Sam LaPorta are all eligible for extensions this offseason.
"When we're looking at the constraints that we have financially entering in, it's like, 'OK, we're not going to be able to do a lot of multi-year deals,' because what we're trying to do with these extensions that we have upcoming, the implications that it would have on our cap would be — I don't want to call it crippling — but it would have been hard to overcome," Holmes said. "We were kind of limited in how many multi-year deals that we actually could get."
Added Holmes, "We feel really, really good about what we were able to accomplish."
Here are a few other takeaways from the Lions Collective podcast:
▶ The Lions had three big holes entering the offseason: center (filled by Mays), tackle (at least partially filled by Larry Borom) and edge rusher (filled by veteran DJ Wonnum).
Wonnum's one-year, $2.3 million deal (according to Over The Cap, a popular salary cap website) was far and away the cheapest of the three and less than half the financial commitment that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers made to Al-Quadin Muhammad, who had 11 sacks for the Lions last season.
Holmes said that the signing of Mays precluded Detroit from making a bigger move at edge rusher, but noted that he's "always been a big fan of" Wonnum. "Watching [Wonnum's] tape last year, it was impressive."
Added Holmes, "Once we made that decision for the offensive line, made that commitment, it kind of took us out of some of those other options at edge rusher, including Muhammad. I'm a huge fan of Muhammad. I was so happy for what he did last year. ... We just weren't able to make it happen."
▶ It sure sounds like the Lions are ready to move Penei Sewell to left tackle after he spent the first five seasons of his career on the right side. Holmes said that he was particularly impressed by the play of tackle Larry Borom, who signed with Detroit on a one-year, $5 million deal, at right tackle. Borom played all 664 snaps at right tackle last season played a considerable amount of right tackle with the Chicago Bears in 2021 and 2022.
"That's what kept him up there for us," Holmes said.
Holmes confirmed that he views Borom as a starting-caliber tackle, which could indicate that he won't feel compelled to hunt for a tackle of the future in Round 1 of the upcoming NFL Draft.
As for whether he's had any contact with the camp of offensive tackle Taylor Decker, who was released earlier in the offseason and remains a free agent, Holmes said there hasn't been any recent dialogue between the two.
▶ Holmes became the Lions' first decision-maker to be asked about the status of cornerback Terrion Arnold, whose name appeared in a Florida judicial order in connection with an armed robbery and kidnapping in Tampa on Feb. 4.
On the evolving story itself — Arnold has not been arrested by authorities — Holmes said, "You control what you can control. You're aware of everything. That's really about the most I can say about that."
But as it pertains to how it'll impact his approach to the draft, Holmes said he considers himself a "pessimistic planner," whether that's "something a player went through off the field, or something that a player's going through on the field from a medical standpoint ... I just like to prepare myself for that."
▶ Last week, 97.1 The Ticket host Mike Valenti made waves when he said that someone who covers the team told him "that this was the first offseason there are definite differences of opinion on roster construction between" Holmes and coach Dan Campbell.
Holmes was given the floor to clear up those claims and didn't shy away from the idea that a losing season has increased the "intensity" around the facility, but said that he and Campbell are "in total lockstep like we always have been."
"When you have a disappointment of a season like we had, it's more intense in terms of ... it is a deeper, harder look from top to bottom on everything, and that's what me and Dan have done in joint alignment," Holmes said.
Watch the full episode of Lions Collective here.
@nolanbianchi
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes explains free-agency approach