Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes faced a lot of heat for not selecting a defensive end. Here’s what he had to say about it.
As Round 3 of the 2025 NFL Draft dwindled down, Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes approached the podium Friday night to break down the two picks he made on Day 2: Tate Ratledge and Isaac TeSlaa. Initially, the media questions he faced were on those two players, but it quickly turned to the topic of defensive end—where the Lions had not made a selection at yet, despite many highlighting it as a top need.
Then he faced another questions about edge defenders. Then another. Then another. In total, he face six straight questions about the position. His answer on why he hasn’t drafted a defensive end was the same it’s been all offseason: we follow our board, we don’t chase needs.
“We did the same thing that we do every draft: We picked the highest-rated player regardless of position,” Holmes said. “So that’s what we did this whole way through. That’s what we’re going to do again tomorrow.”
The Lions currently have Aidan Hutchinson, Marcus Davenport, Al-Quadin Muhammad, Nate Lynn, Isaac Ukwu, and Mitchell Agude as their edge defenders, with defensive linemen like Josh Paschal and Levi Onwuzurike both capable of playing on the interior or the edge, and linebacker Derrick Barnes also offering snaps on the edge.
Clearly annoyed by the amount of questions he received about the position (again), Holmes was a bit confused by the obsession.
“You guys keep asking the question because we had injuries last year, right?” Holmes said. “I just want to make that clear, right? Because we had injuries last year, that’s why you guys keep (asking)”
It’s true the Lions suffered key injuries at the position. The lost both starters in Hutchinson and Davenport, while also losing key depth in Barnes and John Cominsky. However, look at the team’s depth right now, it’s hard to trust a player like Davenport to stay healthy, and the situation behind him is murky.
“That’s fair,” Holmes admitted, after a reporter noted depth appears to be an issue.
Holmes also revealed that the Lions did try to draft an edge player during the draft so far. The timing of their picks just never lined up, or they couldn’t get a deal done with another team.
“I don’t need to get into specifics, but there were times we made attempts to get one and you just – they got picked before, you couldn’t get up. It takes two to trade. Or, we had another player higher,” Holmes said.
And they were never going to draft a defensive end just to draft one.
“We could’ve done that, and you all would’ve been happy, right?” Holmes said. “You would’ve been happy if we drafted an edge rusher? All I hear is, ‘Edge rusher, draft an edge rusher.’ Well, are you assuming that the guy is really good? Well, that’s a whole different story.”
That says something about the defensive ends they passed on, because both players they grabbed on Friday were the results of a significant trade up. When they traded up to grab Tate Ratledge at 57 overall, Marshall’s Mike Green, Louisville’s Ashton Gillotte, and Arkansas’ Landon Jackson were still on the board. When they jumped 32 spots to grab receiver Isaac TeSlaa, Jackson was still available, as was Mississippi’s Princely Umanmielen and Oregon’s Jordan Burch.
But the Lions are not done at acquiring talent both in the NFL Draft and in the days, weeks, and months that follow before training camp. Detroit will enter Saturday afternoon with five picks on Day 3 of the draft, and Holmes promised to search high and low to get the best players—which may or may not include another defensive end.
“We’ll keep looking. I mean, we’ll turn over every stone,” Holmes said. “There are other avenues in the player acquisition process, so it doesn’t stop at the draft, so we’ll see. But no, I mean, it’s a fair statement. But I mean, just because you don’t draft one doesn’t mean – we had one last year at the trade deadline. But that’s not—it’s more on the top of y’all’s priority than it is on the top of our priority.”
