ALLEN PARK, MI — Following their recent success, the Detroit Lions have emerged as a free agency destination, according to general manager Brad Holmes.
Holmes discussed the changing perception of the Lions franchise on Thursday, noting the team’s back-to-back winning seasons as a cause for the increased interest from players and agents.
“It has been different,” Holmes explained. “In the past — I’d say for the first two years — we were continually selling and convincing people to come here. But now, it makes you feel good that we’ve done something, and we’ve done so well that these agents want to send their guys here.”
Holmes, who is in his fourth season as general manager alongside coach Dan Campbell, explicitly mentioned that wide receiver and kicker agencies sought to get their players to Detroit this offseason.
“Now, the wide receiver front, that was even easier conversations,” he added. “Every agent of a wide receiver wanted to send them here, and you know really the same thing happened with kicker too.”
The Lions did not make any high-profile additions at wide receiver or kicker, but they did make changes in both areas. Detroit promoted veteran wide receivers Tim Patrick and Allen Robinson II to the practice squad on Wednesday, while also releasing Donovan Peoples-Jones and re-signing him to the practice squad.
The Lions presently have former UFL standout Jake Bates at kicker, who is expected to take over after Michael Badgley suffered a season-ending injury last month.
The Lions were largely quiet in free agency this offseason, with veteran defensive tackle DJ Reader being their most notable signing. Detroit also acquired cornerback Carlton Davis III in an effort to boost its defence.
Holmes expressed pride that, despite heightened interest from free agents, the Lions front management maintained a disciplined approach and did not feel false pressure from an imagined championship window.
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“I’m proud of us that we’ve avoided mentally putting ourselves into that, ‘We’re being in a window, and so we have to do something different,’ from a roster standpoint,” he told me. “We’ve kept our strategy and methodology pretty constant in terms of how we create it and the opportunities we provide players, which gives us confidence.
“We’ve been saying this since day one: ‘We want to get better every year.’ We have done so, and we want to continue doing so.”
Following their first division triumph since 1993 and their second NFC Championship Game participation, the Lions have the third-best chance to reach the Super Bowl this season (17.6%), according to ESPN Analytics.
Detroit is also favoured to win its division for the second year in a row, but the team has never won ten or more games in consecutive seasons.
But Holmes spoke up without hesitation about his expectations for the upcoming season.
“To win the Super Bowl,” he said firmly.
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