A New Year’s Resolution for Brad Holmes and the Detroit Lions, let the past be the past and do things that make you uncomfortable
It’s time for the Lions to take the next step in their evolution.
Happy New Year, Detroit Lions fans. That horrible 2025, which started with a bad loss to the Washington Commanders in the divisional round of the playoffs and just never really got better from there, is over.
Like everyone else, a New Year’s Resolution is on the table. For me, it’s the usual thing everyone does. I need to lose some weight. For the Lions, it’s a bit deeper than that.
The Lions should let the past be the past and do things that make them uncomfortable
So what does this mean? Let’s break it down a little better and start with letting the past be the past. The Lions almost need to let everything that’s happened before this season go. Things were going well, and you had a certain formula and a certain culture that got you to this place. That has to die now. “Grit” got you here, but now you have to be something bigger than “Grit.”
To beat the monster, you have to become a monster too. I’m not saying you have to abandon the core tenets of “Grit.” Get players who have that same feeling of loving football and their willingness to play their hearts out. You don’t have to sign a bunch of jerks.
What I’m saying is that “Grit” needs to turn into an obsession. Every player from a championship team will tell you what it took to get here, and all their explanations sound a lot like obsession.
In addition, the Lions have to know that every year is different. I get what happened this past offseason. The Lions were 15-2 last year without some key players. So, of course, Brad Holmes and the Lions looked at the roster, getting key players back, and thought they could just replicate that and save some cash at the same time. It makes a lot of sense. I would have thought that, too. I
did think that, and that’s why I spent so much time defending the decision to do nothing. Now I see more than ever that every year is different and that you have to leave the past behind.
When it comes to trying things that make you uncomfortable, it’s simple. You have to spend that money and “F them picks.” This Lions team is ready to go win a Super Bowl, even at 8-8. They’re so talented. The plan should be to nurture that talent and add to it. Add players who make your good players even better.
I understand the desire to build through the draft to achieve sustained success, but man, you’ve got those sustained success players already. The Lions have some of the best players in the league. So why not surround them with more of the best players in the league right now if you can get them and it makes sense?
Holmes, of all people, should realize the value of that. It’s how his mentor, Rams GM Les Snead, did business. The Rams built through the draft and got sustained success players, then went all in on trades and free agency, went to two Super Bowls, and won one of them.
If we’ve learned anything from that franchise, it’s that they still have sustained success. They’re one of the best teams in the league, years after saying “F them picks.” By the way, trading Jared Goff, a guy who got them to one of those Super Bowls, is not the answer for the Lions. Just in case any of you got that idea.
We know Holmes and the rest of this front office are smart. There shouldn’t be any doubt that they can do the same thing the Rams did and survive through the big moves. So go out there and take some swings in free agency, the trade market, and the draft.
Do things that scare you and make you worry about the future. Those might be the things that take you and this franchise to the next level. A place everyone so badly wants to be.
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That should kill any talk about the Lions trading Jared Goff.
