Lions GM Brad Holmes sends warning to NFL after proving doubters wrong in 2023

07 February 2024 , 01:00

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Detroit Lions' general manager Brad Holmes, has hit back at critics during his end-of-year press conference. He defended his decisions and draft picks after the Lions' journey ended with defeat to San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

"When you look back at those [draft picks - and those picks were not welcomed by many in this room - every single move was intentional and was made with intention," Holmes told reporters.

"Back in 2021, we did not have multiple ones, we did not have multiple twos, we did not have four picks in the first 100. Now we did have that and we used those wisely, you guys didn't agree. But we used those picks wisely."

When asked if he enjoyed proving his critics wrong after Detroit's successful season, Holmes replied it wasn't about gloating but about accountability.

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"I'll say this: I'm big on accountability," he continued.

"I think you all would expect me to be accountable when I'm up here, when things don't go right, you would've expected me to be accountable. And I am - I feel am a very accountable person.

"I think when you heard so much negativity about our draft and I said, 'Look, wait until they start playing football, you'll be appreciative. When they start playing football and people start giving credit, the negativity, everybody forgot about it. I give probably two people credit in this room, that said, 'I was wrong, I was wrong' and I appreciated that and I respected that."

Holmes went on to explain his distaste for the experts who mask their true thoughts instead of being honest about their criticisms of the Lions and their actions. "And so just having accountability, that's all it is," he remarked. "Again, like I said, I'm not up here to give my 'I told you so's.' I would say that the 'I told you so's' was when we selected the players. As long as Dan [Campbell] and I are convinced in selecting these players, you sleep like a baby."

Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell made sure the moves they made were because of their belief in their program (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)

Despite the swirl of negative views towards the Lions' draft picks and off-season manoeuvres, Campbell and the team remained unfazed. During the 2023 NFL season, Detroit pulled off a rare feat, winning 12 games for only the second time in their history, as well as seizing the NFC North title for the first time since 1993.

The Lions advanced to the NFC Championship Game where they were defeated by the San Francisco 49ers with a score of 34-31, making it their second playoff win in the Super Bowl era.

While the season ultimately ended in falling one game short of a first ever trip to the Super Bowl, Holmes reassured fans: "Look, it's only going to get better. OK? We're only going to get better, all right?," and "I don't want anybody to think this was a one-shot, Cinderella, magical journey that just happened. No. It's real ... This is exactly what was supposed to happen."

Holmes continued his message, saying: "Every move that me and Dan make, it has been made to sustain what we are building. Every single move, and I would say every single move we make and every single move we do not make, is to sustain what we have been building. It's real. Look, it's all to normalize what we're doing. This is to normalize it."

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