A deep dive on the return for every Brad Holmes trade shows the Lions should do this more often
Brad Holmes is pretty good at trading, he should do it more
The Detroit Lions’ offseason is about to hit a bit of a lull. So, it’s a good time to go back and take another look at every trade that Lions GM Brad Holmes has made during his five years with the Lions. Let’s jump right into it with the first one. The one that turned out to be huge.
Note: A lot of the trades the Lions made had picks involved. We connected all the dots to figure out who they wound up with. Additionally, we will include some standalone draft-day trades unrelated to the others.
The Matthew Stafford trade
| Lions | Rams |
|---|---|
| Jared Goff | Matthew Stafford |
| 2021 3rd round pick (101) | |
| 2022 1st round pick (32) | |
| 2023 1st round pick (6) |
A ton has been made of this trade. The one thing to note is that the Lions traded Matthew Stafford to the Rams, and the Rams essentially traded back an entire offense to the Lions. Here are the full results of that trade.
| Lions | Rams |
|---|---|
| Jared Goff | Matthew Stafford |
| Ifeatu Meilfonwu | |
| Jameson Williams | |
| Josh Paschal | |
| Jahmyr Gibbs | |
| Sam LaPorta | |
| Brodric Martin |
The Lions wound up getting three Pro Bowlers out of this deal. Jameson Williams is a big season away from making it four. There was very little downside to this deal, aside from Brodric Martin. The Lions got a few decent seasons out of Melifonwu before he left for the Dolphins last March.
The Michael Brockers trade
| Lions | Rams |
|---|---|
| Michael Brockers | 2023 7th round pick (235) |
This was the second move Holmes made, and it is the only straightforward trade out there. The Lions got one player out of it, and that’s it. Brockers gave the Lions two seasons, and they released him. The Rams used the seventh-round pick they got from the Lions and moved it around a bunch until they got three draft picks out of it. The biggest one being Kobie Turner.
| Lions | Rams |
|---|---|
| Michael Brockers | Nick Hampton |
| Stetson Bennett | |
| Kobie Turner |
2021 Draft day trade
| Lions | Browns |
|---|---|
| 113th pick (Derrick Barnes) | 153rd pick (Tony Fields) |
| 257th pick (Jermar Jefferson) | 2022 fourth-round pick (Traded Away) |
The Lions certainly won this one. They walked out with a solid SAM linebacker who has played well and just signed a nice new contract last offseason. Jefferson stayed with the team through 2024.
For the Browns, they got four seasons out of Fields, but he was never a starter there. He’s with the Rams now.
The Trinity Benson trade
| Lions | Broncos |
|---|---|
| Trinity Benson | 2022 5th round pick (145) |
| 2023 6th round pick (183) | 2022 7th round pick (234) |
This one didn’t make much sense at the time, and I still didn’t understand it years later. After sifting through the aftermath of the trade, it looks even worse. Here’s what happened.
OK, hold on tight to the crossbar. Here we go.
The Lions took that 183rd pick and traded it back to Denver along with the 63rd pick in exchange for a third and fifth round pick. They wound up using that third-round pick on Hendon Hooker, then moved that fifth-round pick around until it became Brodric Martin. More on that later. So at the end of the day, here’s what that trade has fully produced for each team.
| Lions | Broncos |
|---|---|
| Trinity Benson | Used pick 145 in Russell Wilson deal |
| Hendon Hooker | Luke Wattenberg |
| Brodric Martin |
The T.J. Hockenson trade
| Lions | Vikings |
|---|---|
| 2023 2nd round pick (55) | T.J. Hockenson |
| 2024 3rd round pick | 2023 4th round pick (119) |
| 2024 Conditional 4th round pick |
The Lions took that 55th pick and moved it to Kansas City in exchange for a second (63), fourth (122), and seventh round pick (249). They traded the 63rd pick to Denver, along with the 183rd pick they got in the Trinity Benson trade, and received the 68th and 139th picks.
The 68th pick turned out to be Hendon Hooker. They moved the 139th pick, along with the 122nd pick they got from KC, to Arizona for the pick that would become Brodric Martin.
Then there’s 249. The Lions would move 249 to Philadelphia as part of the D’Andre Swift trade. They got back the 219th pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick. They would use the 219th pick to select Antione Green. Are you still with me? Here’s the endgame.
The Lions took that third-round pick they got from the Vikings and packaged it in a trade with their 29th pick to move up in the first-round of the 2024 NFL Draft to get Terrion Arnold.
They also traded that 2025 fourth-round pick they got from the Eagles, in the Swift trade, back to the Eagles to move up and get Sione Vaki.
On the Vikings’ side, they took that conditional fourth-round pick from the Lions and used it as part of their trade-up package for J.J. McCarthy. So basically, this trade didn’t work out very well for either side, aside from the fact that they both got new tight ends and the Lions got a starting cornerback.
| Lions | Vikings |
|---|---|
| Hendon Hooker | T.J. Hockenson |
| Brodric Martin | Jay Ward |
| Antione Green | J.J, McCarthy |
| Terrion Arnold | |
| Sione Vaki |
2022 Draft Day trade
| Lions | Eagles |
|---|---|
| 188th pick (Malcolm Rodriguez) | 181st pick (Kyron Johnson) |
| 237th pick (Chase Lucas) |
Felt like nothing at the time, but the Lions got Malcom Rodriguez out of this one, and that guy wound up starting in 2022. He’s now an important depth piece in Detroit.
Johnson played one season for the Eagles. He’s currently signed to a futures deal with the Titans.
The Jeff Okudah trade
| Lions | Falcons |
|---|---|
| 2023 5th round pick (159) | Jeff Okudah |
The Lions would take that 159th pick and the 48th pick and move them to Green Bay in exchange for the 45th pick. They would use that pick to select Brian Branch. So here’s how that turned out.
| Lions | Falcons |
|---|---|
| Brian Branch | Jeff Okuadh |
The D’Andre Swift draft day trade
| Lions | Eagles |
|---|---|
| 219th pick (Antoine Green) | D’Andre Swift |
| 2025 fourth-round pick (traded for Sione Vaki) |
Green, unfortunately, suffered a season-ending injury in the summer of 2024 and has not played in the league since. That fourth-round pick got sent right back to the Eagles in 2024. Swift spent one year with the Eagles and is now with the Bears. Vaki has been a great addition to the Lions’ special teams.
2024 Draft day trade
| Lions | Jets |
|---|---|
| 126th pick (Giovanni Manu) | 2025 third-round pick (Traded to the Raiders as part of the Davante Adams trade) |
This one is still to be determined. Everyone knew this would be a project, but it’s not looking too great at the moment.
Manu missing most of the 2025 season was not a big help. The Jets’ side of things didn’t work out either, as Davante Adams had a pretty bad time in New York.
2024 Draft day trade
| Lions | Texans |
|---|---|
| 189th pick (Mekhi Wingo) | 205th pick (Jawhar Jordan) |
| 249th pick (LaDarius Henderson) |
The move felt like a steal at the time because Wingo was expected to go earlier. But a season-ending injury in his rookie season, followed by being a healthy scratch most of this season, has that early optimism turning to concern at the moment.
The good news is that he played Week 18 and played well.
The Trades we’re waiting on
The Lions sent a 2025 fifth-round pick and a 2026 sixth-round pick to the Browns for Za’Darius Smith and a 2026 seventh-round pick. The Browns used that fifth-round pick to trade for Kenny Pickett. We don’t know what the rest of the deal looks like and won’t until April’s draft.
The Lions traded Tim Patrick to the Jaguars for a 2026 Sixth-Round pick. Same thing as the Smith deal. We don’t know what the outcome of this one will be yet, and won’t until the draft.
