Detroit Lions Brad Holmes Had 'Little Bit More Fire' For 2026 NFL Draft

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes certainly felt the sting of the team not making the playoffs last season.

Now a constant reminder of that fact is a motivating force that helped fuel the work needed to add talented draft prospects to the roster.

On his office wall, is a written reminder of the fact the Lions were sitting at home watching while the NFL playoffs took place last season.

“Not making the playoffs. I had some other things that I’m not going to say," Holmes said, following the conclusion of the 2026 NFL Draft. "But, it was just a reminder that when the playoffs started, we were sitting at home watching.”

Following the conclusion of the 2025 season, the front office and coaching staff took a long hard look at what was working and what was not working.

As a result, some changes were made, including how the offseason program would operate this spring.

The team has made the decision to cancel rookie minicamp and will not schedule joint practices with another NFL team this training camp.

"Taking that hard, long look in the mirror and just looking at everything from top-to-bottom and saying, 'Look, what can we do to do things better? What kind of tweaks and changes and adjustments.' Those are the kinds of things that I was talking about at the end of the season when I said some of these adjustments might not come with the headlines," said Holmes. "I wasn’t saying that we’re not going to sign a player, it wasn’t about that.

"It was just that there’s going to be a lot of things that are going to be done and tweaked and adjusted that just might be internal that might not be a headline," Holmes added. "So, you guys are good at your jobs so you guys kind of get them, so you guys got some already. But yeah, it was just those kind of things. But I feel a lot better that we made those moves and made those adjustments.”

Holmes indicated the level of urgency has been dialed up a notch, given the team has a solid core in place. Also, many young players drafted in the regime's early tenure have not reached the point in their careers that they can take over leadership roles from older veterans who have departed.

“I take every draft serious. I just feel like it’s too critical and too important. I will say, it was probably a little bit more fire. Like you said, I know people -- you guys know about me not going to the league meetings just to kind of work on some other things to make sure this, it was stuff like that," said Holmes. "But when you miss the playoffs, that might be the kick in the rear that you need at times.

"That right there I had written up on my office wall and all that kind of stuff. Not saying that I don’t have fire in other drafts, but it was just a little bit more. The urgency just needed to be pushed up on on everything. It was just a little bit more fire to the intensity on this one.”

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