The Detroit Lions are about to hand out another batch of huge contracts. So how good does Brad Holmes need to be in the NFL Draft to offset those deals?
This week, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes made it clear that his cap management strategy right now is primarily motivated by discipline. While it may be tempting to spend all of Detroit’s current cap space on a big-name player or two that could push the Lions over the top in 2025, Holmes knows that moves in 2025 will affect the cap in 2026 and 2027. With at least four or five top-market extensions on the horizon over the next two offseasons, Holmes won’t compromise the money earmarked for those deals for short-term benefit.
If the Lions are going to prioritize saving money for the big extensions, then they need to continue to draft extraordinarily well. The only way they’re going to be able to sport a Super Bowl-level team when they are paying 4-8 players market-setting deals, is to complement those contracts with talented players on rookie-scale wages.
This begs the question: how successful do they need to be? How many players from the 2024 draft class need to be starters or significant contributors? How many starters do they need in this upcoming 2025 NFL Draft? And how should that guide Holmes’ draft strategy? Do they need to trade down and accumulate as many picks and rookie contracts as they can? Or is it even more important to make sure you get those one or two top-end starters in the draft?
Erik Schlitt and I discuss that topic (around the 51:30 mark) and a whole lot more on this week’s Midweek Mailbag. You can listen to the show on any podcasting platform you use, or you can watch replays of the show on YouTube and Twitch.
Here are some of the other topics we talked about this week:
- 4:00 — Lots of talk about the offensive line this week, but… what about Colby Sorsdal?
- 7:30 — What about Graham Glasgow? Is his primary role going to be backup center? Who will be the starting guards?
- 14:20 — Do we really think the Lions are moving Giovanni Manu to guard?
- 20:00 — How will the “Hawk-Eye” technology change how to challenge the spotting of footballs?
- 23:15 — Can the Lions actually succeed if they opt to pay both safeties?
- 28:30 — Who will be the Lions’ third safety and what will that role look like?
- 35:50 — What is a dark-horse position the Lions could draft in the first round?
- 42:40 — Are there any positions the Lions ABSOLUTELY NEED to draft this year?
- 47:00 — Which team drafting just above Detroit could take a player the Lions really want?
- 59:40 — What do the Lions need out of Giovanni Manu and Brodric Martin for those picks to be “worth it”?
