The Lions Just Made a Move That Shows Brad Holmes Isn’t Messing Around
The Detroit Lions just added a former NFL GM to their front office in a move that strengthens a strength and reinforces exactly how they want to build their roster in the future.
This is a pretty notable story. The Lions are bringing in former Miami Dolphins general manager Chris Grier as a personnel executive, and it tells you everything you need to know about how serious Brad Holmes is about staying ahead of the curve.
Chris Grier Brings the Kind of Experience You Can’t Fake
Grier brings a ton of experience to the table, including spending the last 10 seasons as the Dolphins’ general manager. He was brought in the year after Dan Campbell was the interim head coach for Miami, and Grier actually interviewed Campbell for the job he would wind up giving to Adam Gase.
The resume speaks for itself. Grier can take credit for drafting several All-Pros and Pro Bowlers like Laremy Tunsil, Minkah Fitzpatrick, Xavien Howard, Andrew Van Ginkel, Tua Tagovailoa, Jaylen Waddle, De’Von Achane, and a slew of other notable names. But the Dolphins never got past the Wild Card round while he was there.
Before getting the GM job in Miami, he was their director of college scouting and was a scout himself. His path to being a GM looks a lot like Brad Holmes’ path. When you see that, you can see why Holmes might want to add someone like Grier.
This Is About Doubling Down on What Actually Works
If there’s one thing Chris Grier brings to Detroit, it’s a set of trained scouting eyes that have been doing this longer than most front offices have been intact. This is a guy who didn’t just land in a GM chair. He spent decades grinding through film rooms, cross-checking boards, and building rosters from the ground up.
You can question some of the big-picture results in Miami, sure, but the ability to identify real NFL talent has never been the issue. Time and time again, Grier found foundational players who could actually play, develop, and stick. That’s the part that matters in Detroit because they are all about their draft and retention strategy.
What Lions fans might be hopeful for is that he showed he can be pretty aggressive at times, like trades for Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey. Maybe he can get into Holmes’ ear a little bit on moves like that. But I would not hold your breath that those happen right away with all the extensions the Lions have to do right now.
This is exactly what I wanted to see. Brad Holmes isn’t just sitting around hoping things work out, he’s bringing in guys who know how to build through the draft and actually find talent. Grier’s track record speaks for itself and having that kind of veteran eye in the room just makes our scouting better.
Look, I like that Holmes is thinking ahead and trying to improve the draft process, but let’s not forget Grier never won anything big down in Miami despite having some really good players. I hope this works out different here, but I’m gonna wait and see what he actually does before I get too excited about it.
You know, after all the nonsense we’ve dealt with over the years with front offices that didn’t have a clue, it’s nice to see guys like Holmes and Campbell actually building something the right way. Bringing in someone like Grier who’s spent decades in film rooms shows this organization is serious about doing things different than how it used to be done around here.
I’d love to see Grier push Holmes on some aggressive moves like those trades mentioned. We have the talent to compete, so maybe having another voice in the room who’s not afraid to make bold plays could be the extra piece we need to get over the hump.