Lions Will Continue 'Best Player Available' Approach in NFL Draft

Why the team feels there are benefits to taking the best player available.

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes speaks during media availability in January of 2026. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions have a couple of perceived areas of need heading into the 2026 NFL Draft.

For general manager Brad Holmes, the process of evaluating prospects remains the same. The team, even though many pundits believe need to target an offensive tackle or an edge rusher early in the draft, will still pick the best player available, when it is their turn to hand in a draft card.

Speaking at his annual pre-draft media session, the sixth-year general manager was asked about the balance in the draft between getting a prospect who might have an instant impact versus a player that is more of a long-term project.

With a roster that has more core players, there are questions if that balance changed over the last couple of years.

"The reason why we always go, like the best player available approach is because there is only one draft, and the roster is going to change every single year," said Holmes. "Every single year there is going to be new needs, there is going to be contracts that are going to expire. Things are going to happen. So, what may not seem as an immediate, 'I need this right now for this year, that might not be the case for the next year.' That is what has been our approach on that.

"But, there's times where you might, it lines up," Holmes added. "Like I said, maybe the best player is a perceived need, and it lines up that way. So, it's lined up like that in the past. But, that is not always the case."

Detroit has been willing to trade up for prospects they feel fit the culture and fit everything the organization is looking for.

The other two positions that have prospects moving up draft boards are at the guard and safety position. Holmes indicated that the personnel department is still evaluating the talent in the draft and did not confirm if the Lions have graded 17 or more players with a first-round grade.

This season, Detroit is drafting at a little higher of a position than the past couple of years, so the team is confident the player targeted will be a good football player.

But Holmes cautioned that even if the team targeted an offensive tackle in the first-round, there is always a learning curve for first-year players.

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