As jolting as his Detroit Lions’ shocking playoff exit may have seemed from the outside, Brad Holmes appeared unfazed by it. In January 2025, five days after the upstart Washington Commanders stormed into Ford Field and ousted the NFC’s top seed in the divisional round, Holmes wore a calm expression as he met with reporters.
“It stung,” the general manager told them then.
But, he added, “I don’t think that you can be a prisoner on the moment and just kind of make all of these crazy whole changes.”
After all, he later explained, “I do think that we’re very close.”
Few, at the time, were arguing with him. The Lions had just won a franchise-record 15 games, continuing their progressive rise that began in 2022. If not for a wave of injuries ravaging the defense, they might have reached their first Super Bowl. Holmes seemed convinced of that as he mapped out a simple offseason blueprint, believing the Lions could achieve their goal if they could just stay healthy. In the months ahead, Holmes and his brain trust refrained from making many major adjustments to a roster that showed it had championship potential before it had been decimated.
During a six-week period that elapsed between early March and late April, the Lions re-signed 17 players and focused on building their depth. Their top free-agent acquisition, cornerback D.J. Reed, was a one-for-one replacement for Carlton Davis III after he left to join the New England Patriots. One of their first two draft picks, second-rounder Tate Ratledge, was plucked to fill the hole created after veteran right guard Kevin Zeitler decamped for Tennessee. Their other top choice, first-rounder Tyleik Williams, was added to future-proof the defensive tackle spot occupied by the aging DJ Reader. The major moves Holmes made were self-explanatory, and the plan he adhered to was uncomplicated. He and the Lions operated under the assumption that if Lions ran it back with virtually the same cast of players and remained out of harm’s way, the wins would continue to come.
That didn’t happen.
New variables were introduced, the first and foremost of which was the sudden retirement of Frank Ragnow in June –one of several unforeseen developments that triggered the Lions’ backslide to nine wins last season.
“He’ll be missed,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said soon after the All-Pro center called it quits.
He was. Without him in the middle, the offensive line deteriorated. Graham Glasgow proved to be an inadequate replacement for Ragnow, weakening the unit’s interior. But the problems extended further, to the outer reaches of the unit. Taylor Decker, the longstanding left tackle, was hampered by an ailing right shoulder that caused him to miss multiple starts and led him to openly contemplate whether he can play beyond the season. As the team’s strongest position group became destabilized, the running game receded and the offense became less efficient.
On the other side of the ball, it wasn’t much better. The pass rush, even with star Aidan Hutchinson back in the fold following his recovery from a season-ending leg fracture in 2024, didn’t have much bite, with a win rate that ranked near the bottom of the NFL. Detroit also had the third-worst time-to-pressure average in the NFL, indicating Holmes miscalculated by assuming the Lions would achieve better results simply by returning to full strength within the front seven.
But the deficiencies near the line of scrimmage paled in comparison to the problems that materialized on the back end, where safeties Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph suffered significant and potentially career-altering injuries. Branch’s torn Achilles and Joseph’s aggravated knee condition dimmed the outlook of a position group that had been the least of the Lions’ concerns at this time last year.
Now, it may be one of their biggest.
Determining how to address it will be among the top priorities during an offseason that is far more complicated than the one Holmes navigated in 2025. In the months ahead, Holmes has a lot to sort out and myriad questions to answer.
None of them are easy.
Items on his agenda include repairing the offensive line, bolstering the pass rush, buttressing the secondary, and fortifying other sectors, including the tight end group and linebacker corps. He must also decide whether to trade David Montgomery and break up one of the best backfields in the NFL, which seemed unthinkable not long ago. But there are financial considerations to weigh. With the Lions projected to be $9 million-$10 million over the cap heading into the new league year, Holmes is charged with clearing space as he aims to enhance the organization’s spending power in 2026 and beyond.
They’ll need money, after all. Branch, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, linebacker Jack Campbell and tight end Sam LaPorta become eligible for contract extensions in March. In the past, Holmes has shown an eagerness to invest in the team’s young nucleus, earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars toward the retention of homegrown talents such as right tackle Penei Sewell, receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and defensive tackle Alim McNeill. For that reason, it’s expected Holmes will try to lock down Campbell and Gibbs, too. But Branch and LaPorta? Holmes will have to determine whether the Lions want to keep them over the long term after Branch tore his Achilles and LaPorta missed the final eight games with a herniated disc in his back. Considering that both players are entering the final year of their rookie deals, Holmes faces a condensed timeline to make that call.
It isn’t ideal.
But neither was the outcome of the 2025 season. Following its disappointing conclusion, Holmes gave himself an “F.”
“Not good enough,” he said two weeks after the Lions had been eliminated from the playoffs.
But just as he had the year before, Holmes told reporters he believed Lions were still “very close” to competing for a Super Bowl.
“I don’t think that we’re that far off,” he said. “I personally don’t. We have a lot of good players. We have a lot of good young, ascending players. We have a really good quarterback, we have the right coach…. I do not think that this is a deep surgery, overhaul. I don’t think that. But obviously, there needs to be some adjustments made, for sure.”
The question is whether Holmes can make all the right ones in the coming months to re-position the Lions as Super Bowl contenders in 2026. It is a tall task, given the length of his to-do list and the constraints he must work within. But it’s one Holmes must undertake this offseason, which may prove to be his most challenging yet.
Contact Rainer Sabin at rsabin@freepress.com. Follow him @RainerSabin on X.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Road ahead for GM Brad Holmes, Detroit Lions rife with challenges
Reporting by Rainer Sabin, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
