Only one GM has kept more draft picks than Brad Holmes and the Lions

Detroit Lions General Manager Brad Holmes spoke to the media on Friday and something stood out to me in that presser. It wasn't even something that Holmes said. It was part of a question that one of the reporters asked. Holmes was asked about how he felt about the Lions keeping nearly all of their […]

Mike Payton — Detroit Lions Beat Writer

Sep 2, 2023 2:21 PM EDT

Detroit Lions General Manager Brad Holmes spoke to the media on Friday and something stood out to me in that presser. It wasn't even something that Holmes said. It was part of a question that one of the reporters asked. Holmes was asked about how he felt about the Lions keeping nearly all of their draft picks since he started with the team. 

That really wowed me. I went and checked it out and sure enough, the Lions have all but one of Brad Holmes draft picks on the team right now. He's drafted 22 players and only Jermar Jefferson is not with the team. That one might not last that long. He's hurt and there's always a possibility he comes back. 

This made me wonder if the Lions are the only team that's been able to keep pretty much all their picks since 2021. So I dug into 31 teams and well over 100 draft picks to find out. Here's what I found. 

Ok, So there's a couple other teams that are right in line with the Lions. The Eagles and Seahawks have both lost one draft pick since 2021. The one team that hasn't lost anyone was the Commanders. You might recognize their GM Martin Mayhew, becasue he was with the Lions for quite a while. 

This is very impressive by Holmes. When I started the stat finding for this project, I kind of thought that, in such a short of amount of time, there was no way that teams would be far away from what the Lions have done. I was dead wrong. Some of these teams are really struggling to pick players. The Broncos are real example of how rough it is out there. 

I can't speak for each team because I didn't look into it as deeply as I could have, but the Lions seem to have a place for every single one of their draft picks. Everyone has a role and pretty much everyone is seeing the field this season. Only one of Holmes' draft picks is on the Lions practice squad right now. That's seventh round pick Chase Lucas. The rest of his picks are on the 53-man roster and will play big roles going forward. 

Maybe it all comes down to the Lions draft strategy. On Friday both Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell said "We're not drafting talent, we're drafting football players." Meaning that talent isn't the biggest indicator of success to them. They're looking for guys that love football and want to fight for their successes. So far that's what we've seen from everyone the Lions have brought in. They're all football guys. 

The Lions have also been straying away from the whole positional value thing. They're not picking positions when everyone thinks they should. The Lions are just going out and getting the guys they want and as Brad Holmes puts it "getting the hell out of there." 

It seems to be working. If the Lions can continue along this path, you're looking at a team that have sustained success for a long time. 

4 takeaways from the Lions unofficial Week 1 depth chart

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