Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes held his final pre-draft summit with reporters on Thursday. Anyone looking for clues on what Holmes and the Lions might do in the 2022 NFL draft next weekend likely came away with handfuls of empty breadcrumb trails.
Holmes was courteous and direct while at the same time deftly not tipping his hand in any one direction for the Lions’ options with the No. 2 overall pick. When asked how strongly he felt about the (unnamed) top two options for the second pick, Holmes offered up a broad response.
“Well, anything can happen at any day, I will say that,” Holmes said. “But it’s not just narrowing it down to your top two. You better have your top five. You better have your top 10 in place because you just don’t know what’s going to happen each day. We do have it narrowed down, and we feel confident where we’re at with how we have it pared down. We’ll just let the process unfold.”
Holmes alluded to the possibility of a trade down, something he’s previously brought up as an area the Lions were exploring. He downplayed any new information or developments, noting “there hasn’t been a whole lot”, since he talked to reporters at the NFL owners’ meeting last month.
He reinforced his own statements from the NFL scouting combine about what the team desires in the No. 2 pick. In the process, he kept the door open for a quarterback–or any impact player at any position.
“Well, I’ll keep it consistent. I’ve been saying all along that we’re looking for a game-changer at that pick,” Holmes stated. “Really at any picks, and I said all positions. So, if that position is a quarterback, then it’s a quarterback. Just because often, it’s been stated that, well, picking up there, it’s either going to be a quarterback or a pass rusher or a tackle and all that type of stuff. But look, I said from day one, give me a game-changer at any position, and there are multiple positions where we do see that potential game-changers could be there in the future.”
