Lions GM Brad Holmes sends clear message about drafting for need, pass rushers

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes talked about drafting for needs, and his thoughts on adding a pass rusher.

The Detroit Lions don’t draft for immediate need, and general manager Brad Holmes wants you to know that. During his pre-draft press conference, Holmes reiterated—several times—that chasing need is something this team isn’t interested in doing, and hasn’t been how they’ve operated in the past.

When one reporter started asking about the debate between best players available versus filling a need, Holmes interrupted them.

“I love need,” he said with a grin on a face. “You guys know me.”

After the reporter asked the question—essentially asking what do you do when the best player on the board conflicts with a roster where there are no starting jobs available—Holmes went on his diatribe against focusing on your depth chart when approaching the draft.

“I sometimes don’t understand the need thing because when each season ends, it’s going to be something else,” Holmes said. “Another player’s contract is going to end, another player, unfortunately, may be coming off an injury. Like, it’s going to be something different every single offseason. So if you’re trying to chase the what happened last season of, ‘Oh man, this guy’s contract is ending.’ You’re trying to chase. ‘Oh, this guy’s injured.’ You’re just kinda getting into a cycle that I think is a little bit dangerous to get into. So that’s why I’ve been more of a just get the best player.”

Holmes specifically preached patience, not only on draft night, but with the players they will end up drafting. They drafted Jameson Williams knowing he wouldn’t fill an immediate need at wide receiver because of an injury they knew would sideline him for the majority of his rookie season. They drafted Ennis Rakestraw last year, and while he couldn’t make it onto the field his rookie season, they’re excited about what he can do in 2025 and beyond.

So if the Lions go a different route than many are expecting by looking at the team’s depth chart, Holmes is preaching patience. The pay off may be years down the line.

“We make these picks for future investments,” Holmes said. “I know we live in a society where everything is, ‘Right now! Boom! Right now, right now! Right now, right now! And I understand it, too. From when a player gets drafted and so much fascination is made about the draft. People are excited about it. People want to see it right now. They don’t want to wait and be patient. […] I think you can get in trouble chasing needs sometimes, and then you’re depending on a rookie. You do the best you can, but nobody has a crystal ball. So it can be a tough world to live in.”

It’s no secret that many draft experts, Lions fans, and local writers believe the Lions should be drafting a pass rusher early in the draft this year. With last year’s injury to Aidan Hutchinson, a lack of strong, reliable depth behind him, and a draft class deep on the defensive line—Holmes even said there are several “good players” in the draft that can rush the passer—it’s easy to see how the Lions may go that way. But Holmes continued to downplay the idea that they need to come away with another player that can rush the passer.

“Is it more so because Aidan got hurt?” Holmes asked a reporter who talked about fans wanting an edge rusher. “Is that why this is such a big thing?

When another reporter asked how he felt about the current defensive line room, Holmes deferred to comments he made at the owners meetings two weeks ago.

“When healthy, we have a lot of good defensive linemen,” Holmes said then. “But (Alim McNeill) Mac might take a little while. I feel good about Hutch, but… That’s the other thing, I know everybody’s craving about an edge rusher, but we have, in our opinion, one of the elite guys. How many elite edge rushers are in the NFL? Four or five? […] To be able to get Levi (Onwuzurike) back, he was rolling with his pressures and hopefully he can get home even more so. That’s going to help out a lot more. Hopefully, with bringing (Marcus) Davenport back, hopefully his injury luck is on the right side of things. That frees up Josh Paschal to be able to do more from a pass rush standpoint, really more interior-wise than outside. We just had to use Paschal as an edge rusher, because of circumstances with injuries and all that. So, we feel good where we’re at. To be able to get (Roy) Lopez to fill–he’s more of a first and second down guy, run defender–but to be able to have him back and still got (DJ) Reader. So we feel pretty good. Actually, we’re getting kinda heavy on the defensive line. Not saying that any position will be ignored, but so far I feel like we’ve had success, and we’re going to continue to fill depth.”

Ultimately, whether the Lions will draft a defensive end, or a guard, or whatever position you think they need in 2025 will depend on one single thing: if the right guy is there.

“It has to be the right guy, and even if it was the right guy at that specific position that we really wanted, just because you might want it doesn’t mean that you can get up there (and trade up) and get them,” Holmes said.