Did Lions GM Brad Holmes change philosophies and draft for need?

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes has made it clear time and time again that the team will not draft a player simply because they fill a need. He’s mentioned several times throughout his tenure that doing so could put your team at risk of missing out on talent.

“I actually think you can get in trouble by doing that,” Holmes said in his pre-draft press conference. “Because you might start to reach for a certain player because you feel like you need that position, and you never want to feel that way when you select a player. You passed up a really good player that you liked even more, but there is a question mark on your roster, so you just go ahead and get that player that you weren’t as excited about.”

The team’s philosophy—at least publicly—has always been to draft the best player available.

But looking at Holmes’ 2026 draft class, he very clearly addressed the team’s most pressing needs early in the draft. Days before his selections, I listed offensive tackle, defensive end, and linebacker as the team’s biggest needs, in that order. Holmes proceeded to draft offensive tackle Blake Miller, defensive end Derrick Moore, and linebacker Jimmy Rolder—in that order.

The question becomes: did Holmes shift strategy? With the team in its Super Bowl window, it would certainly make sense to adjust the team-building philosophy a bit to ensure they have their best shot at winning a ring in 2026. And you could certainly argue Holmes did exactly what he typically warns against: reach for a player that fills a need. As Ryan Mathews pointed out on Tuesday, Miller and Moore both went a half-round higher than media big boards thought, and Rolder was taken nearly two rounds higher than his projection.

But media big boards aren’t necessarily lined up with reality. And the Lions have certainly deviated from Consensus Big Boards in the past and found some success, showing their big board may be the only thing that matters. Media “reaches” are not necessarily reflective of reaches on the Lions’ board.

Holmes, himself, had an answer to this question. Talking with Lions team reporter Tim Twentyman, Holmes suggested needs just happened to line up with their board—although he did admit that need may have acted as a tiebreaker in some cases.

“It just lined up, man,” Holmes told Tim Twentyman. “Look, there may have been some even ties at other positions. So if they’re even ties, where there’s other players that play other positions, but it’s like, ‘Look, I could pick one of them out of a hat and be thrilled with it.’ But then when it kinda hits some positions that might be a little more critical than others or—what the buzz is—more premium (position) than others, it makes it pretty easy.”

Despite the Consensus Big Boards suggesting Detroit reached with some of their picks, Holmes unequivocally denies that.

“What we did not do is we did not get lesser players that we liked lesser because they played those positions and compromise getting better football players because they played other positions,” Holmes said. “That’s when you can get yourself in trouble.”

Do you believe him? Do you think the Lions reached? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

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