The draft is over. Seven new Lions are heading to Allen Park. And predictably, the hot takes are flying faster than Dan Campbell can say “bite kneecaps.”
Look, this franchise has been through enough draft disasters that every pick gets dissected like we’re still living in the Matt Millen era. But here’s the thing about Brad Holmes: he’s earned the right to draft his way without every armchair GM in Michigan losing their minds over it.
Let’s break down the three biggest overreactions to what the Lions just did.
“The Lions pivoted away from best player available”
This one drives me crazy. If there’s one thing we know about Holmes and this front office, it’s that they don’t draft for need. They draft the best player on their board, period.
So when the Lions primarily drafted players who fit at positions of need this year, suddenly everyone thinks they abandoned their philosophy. Wrong.
The draft was just perfectly set up for needs to be met. Even if Holmes wanted to do something wild and pick a player at a position they didn’t need, the board never really gave him that chance. Sometimes the stars align and the best player available happens to play where you need help.
Holmes basically told us this would happen when he talked about sticking with best player available: “There’s times where you might – it lines up. Maybe the best player is a perceived need, and it lines up that way. It’s lined up like that in the past, but that’s not always the case.”
Translation: we draft our guys regardless of position, and sometimes our guys happen to play positions we need. Wild concept, I know.
The Lions didn’t need to trade up
The Lions made two trades in this draft, both to move up. They jumped from 50 to 44 in the second round to get Derrick Moore, and some fans immediately started freaking out about giving up assets.
It’s pretty simple math, people. Look at the team they moved ahead of. The Ravens needed an edge rusher, they drafted an edge rusher, and they probably would have loved the guy their head coach was the defensive coordinator for and their defensive line coach was the defensive line coach for at Michigan.
As for trading up for Law, there was only one team that had a reported top-30 meeting with him: the Steelers. The exact team the Lions jumped to draft him.
When Holmes wants his guys, he goes and gets them. That’s what good general managers do. That’s what this general manager does.
The Lions missed on better players by playing it too safe
I think the Blake Miller and Derrick Moore picks make perfect sense. They’ve been mocked to Detroit so many times it felt inevitable. But plenty of Lions fans wanted Monroe Freeling or Zion Young in those spots instead.
I get the appeal of the flashier names. But maybe some fans fell victim to the buzz on both players. The knock on Freeling and Young was the same thing: they barely had any experience as starters. Freeling has just one year of starting experience.
Here’s the reality: the Lions aren’t a rebuilding team anymore. They’re not the Lions of the past decade where you could afford to draft projects and hope they develop. This is a team that wants to contend for a Super Bowl in 2026, and that means getting players who can contribute now.
Getting players who can play immediately is more valuable than guys who might be really good someday. Holmes knows this. Campbell knows this. And if you’ve been watching this franchise transform over the past few years, you should know it too.
Think Holmes played it too safe or are we just not used to having a GM who actually knows what he’s doing? Drop your take below.
