The Detroit Lions have announced the hiring of Los Angeles Rams Director of College Scouting Brad Holmes to a 5-year deal. This hire comes just days after Holmes had a second interview with Detroit.
Holmes has worked in the NFL since 2003, joining the Rams as a Public Relations intern. Not long after, Holmes joined the scouting side of the Rams and ended up running and controlling the teams’s draft strategy for 8 years.
Holmes has had high praise from many other well known executives around the league. One main example is former running backs coach Wilbert Montgomery. Montgomery during an interview described Holmes as “The next Ozzie Newsome.” Newsome was a Hall of Fame caliber player and the first African-American General Manager in the NFL. He has led the Ravens to two Super Bowl wins, while managing to cement his name in the NFL Hall of Fame. He will forever be known as the man who broke the color barrier for NFL Executives.
Brad Holmes has also received lots of praise from other people around the league throughout his career, but has he been able to back all of this praise up?
Yes. Yes he has. Brad Holmes is known in the Rams franchise for influencing the team to select Pittsburgh DT Aaron Donald. To give some perspective on that draft, the Lions selected TE Eric Ebron, and proceeded to watch the future All-Pro Donald fall all the way to the Rams at #13. Holmes is also a major reason why the Rams selected California QB Jared Goff with the first pick over North Dakota State University QB Carson Wentz. This, just like many other of his choices, has proven to be a massive success for the Rams.
The Lions have had little to no success in the NFL Draft, only being able to select players like Matthew Stafford, D’Andre Swift, and Taylor Decker in the past decade or so. By bringing in Brad Holmes, we will be able to further upgrade and increase our ability to scout at an elite level. Hopefully the experience that Holmes has gained over the years from scouting will be able to help us reach the top of the league when the draft rolls around.
Written by Jasper Warner
My name is Jasper Warner, I am a 17-year-old sports journalist from Petoskey, Michigan. I am currently in the progress of my senior year of high school and I am enrolling into Central Michigan University over the summer to Major in journalism and hope to continue my dream job of sports journalism in the real world.
