Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes doesn’t feel like there’s extra urgency or that a Super Bowl window is closing.
After the Detroit Lions blew one of their best chances to make a Super Bowl run, many are questioning whether their window of opportunity is closing. Not only will the team need to reload their coaching staff after losing both their offensive and defensive coordinators this week, but the salary cap is likely to tighten down the road. For example, the Lions handed monster contract extensions to three key players last offseason: Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Penei Sewell. While their cap hit is just a collective $56 million for 2025, that jumps all the way to $130.7 million in 2026.
Despite that, Lions general manager Brad Holmes said on Thursday he does not feel that any Super Bowl window is closing on the team.
“I think that we’ve done a good job of doing our best we can to avoid windows,” Holmes said. “And I understand that contracts come up when contracts come up and stuff happens, but we feel so good about our young core and young nucleus of players, and we feel really good about our quarterback and how he’s playing and him having a—let’s call it an MVP-caliber season this year. So, I just think that all of the pieces are in place that I don’t really feel walls closing in or a window and again, we kind of make an effort to avoid those kinds of things.”
His answer was in response to a question asking whether Detroit would alter their offseason plan given that the window may be closing and the roster may be just a player or two away. Needless to say, Holmes doesn’t plan on budging from their typical approach.
“If it’s the right veteran player that can help us and it’s the right fit, then we have no problem doing it if it’s going to help our football team, but we’ve always said that we’re going to build through the draft,” Holmes said. “And I think that’s why we are in the position that we are in from a ‘window standpoint’ of having the comfort to keep building like we have been.”
That shouldn’t come as a surprise. Holmes has largely rejected the notion of being one player away or needing to push future capital into the pot now to make a run at a title. The message from Day 1 was to build sustained success in Detroit. Coach Dan Campbell is aligned in that thinking, and also pointed out a flaw in the “one player away” thinking earlier this season.
“I think you’ve got to be careful with the ‘one player away.’ I don’t think that exists necessarily,” Campbell said. “Now, can it help, and can it balance things out everywhere else? Absolutely, it can. But you do the ‘one player away’ and then all of a sudden, the one player away got hurt and you’re like, ‘Oh, well, shoot.’”
That isn’t to say the Lions won’t be aggressive in free agency or via trades this offseason. Last season alone, we saw the Lions trade for CB1 Carlton Davis, EDGE Za’Darius Smith, sign Pro Bowl guard Kevin Zeitler, and ink DJ Reader to a two-year, $27 million deal. But, as always, the process will be selective.
The key in offsetting those aggressive offseason moves and increasing salaries among your internal players is to maintain a strong, young base of players. The 2023 NFL Draft will help, with stars like Jahmyr Gibbs, Jack Campbell, Sam LaPorta, and Brian Branch all still on their rookie contracts through the 2026 season—and none of them carrying a cap hit more than $5.7 million at any point in their deals. But they’ll also need their more recent draft picks to contribute heavily, whether it be Terrion Arnold, Ennis Rakestraw, Giovanni Manu, Christian Mahogany or whoever they select with their seven draft picks for 2025.
That won’t stop the Lions from adding players who fit their identity via free agency and trades, but they won’t jeopardize their future to do so.