The hoodie he wore to the podium Friday night can help explain why Brad Holmes and the Lions took cornerbacks with their first two picks in the draft. While some NFL teams -- and analysts and pundits and fans -- obsess over positional value, the words across Holmes' chest read POSITIONAL VILLAIN. If it wasn't clear already, the Lions draft the best players on their board. Period.
"I got hit with positional value last year," Holmes said with a smile. "It’s just a little spin on it.”
Holmes was roundly mocked last spring for drafting a running back and an off-ball linebacker in the first round. Those aren't deemed 'premium positions' in today's NFL. But the Lions thought Jahmyr Gibbs and Jack Campbell were two of the best football players in a draft thin on true first-round talents, and they wound up with two key contributors on a team that reached the NFC title game.
"It's easy to draft whatever the premium positions are," said Holmes. "Was it quarterback and edge rusher and (offensive) tackle, those positions? Say you draft only those positions, but they’re not contributing to your football team. Did you win the draft because you drafted those positions? Or do you draft the best football players that contribute to your football team? We’re trying to draft football players that make us a better football team, versus just those (positions).
"When I heard it in that light, just, ‘Draft this position,’ that’s the part that I really couldn’t come to grips with. I really didn’t understand it.”
The Lions follow their board. And why wouldn't they? It led them to two first-team All-Pros, three more Pro Bowlers and several franchise players in the first three drafts of Holmes' tenure as GM. They don't reach for certain positions or avoid others to satisfy a depth chart. If they draft a corner in the first round, they'll draft another in the second if he's the best player on their board when they're back on the clock. That was Ennis Rakestraw on Friday night.
In Rakestraw and Terrion Arnold, Holmes said the Lions wound up with "our top-two ranked corners" in the draft. And that's pretty good ... value at picks Nos. 24 and 61.
"We didn’t go into it saying that we were going to get two corners in the first two rounds," said Holmes. "We really didn’t. It was just, he was the highest-graded guy for us at the time. You know how we roll. We went ahead and got him."
Look, said Holmes. The Lions wouldn't draft seven corners in a single draft. Eventually, "you probably hit a maximum" at a given position. But also, the board would never fall that way. Given all the work they put into a draft -- the countless hours of scouting and analyzing and poring over film -- and how much respect Holmes has for the process as the former director of college scouting for the Rams, "it's hard for me and Dan (Campbell), it’s hard for our staff, to have a guy that’s a really good football player that fits us and say, ‘Ah, no, we already took that position. Let’s get this other player,'" Holmes said.
"Let’s get another player that’s not as good, or that we’re not that fired up about, because he plays another position. It’s hard to sleep at night, to do that," said Holmes. "That’s how we’ve operated so far to this point and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”
There's also this: cornerback is a mighty important position in a league driven by the pass and was a long-term need for the Lions two days ago. Now they have two potential No. 1's under contract for at least the next four seasons, with a proven No. 1 in trade acquisition Carlton Davis III to handle the hardest matchups this season and help usher Arnold and Rakestraw into the NFL. If and when Davis III departs next year as a free agent, the defense shouldn't miss a beat. The Lions also have Amik Robertson on a two-year deal, further insurance at a position where injuries are frequent.
Holmes acknowledged the Lions were "lacking some youth (at cornerback), especially on the outside there." This year, their board helped solve that.
"We’ve always been trying to find that future at that position, and it just never really matched up," said Holmes. "It never really lined up. We weren’t in a position to get one, or we just had a better player at another position ranked over another corner. We’re not going to reach for a corner just to get a corner, either. But yeah, super ecstatic that we finally got some future and youth at that position.”
Detroit's secondary was a glaring weakness two years ago. Even last year, the Lions surrendered the most air yards in the NFL. Now it might be the strength of their defense. An early stab at the depth chart slots Davis III and Arnold at outside corner, Brian Branch at nickel, Kerby Jospeh and Ifeatu Melifonwu at safety and Robertson, Rakestraw and Emmanuel Moseley as additional chess pieces for for Aaron Glenn. Moseley was pegged as a starter on the outside last season, before he tore his ACL. Now he might be the lowest player on the depth chart.
Holmes and the Lions have four picks remaining on Day 3 of the draft, where they can address other areas of the roster. They'd probably like to add at wide receiver. Ditto edge rusher and offensive line. But they won't force the issue, aside from trading up for a player they love.
"Positional value is like, you pick a position but not the player," said Holmes.
If that makes the Lions positional villains, so be it.
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