Lions GM Brad Holmes recap: Roster decisions, d-line emphasis, and depth at CB and WR

Allen Park — Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes and assistant general manager Ray Agnew met with the media on Wednesday following the recent establishment of the team’s 53-man roster.

Here’s a recap of the key points from the conversation:

Surprise cut and going light at receiver

Last month, Lions coach Dan Campbell said the team’s receiver room was the best he’s had during training camp across his tenure with the franchise, calling the competition for roster spots behind the starters “an all-out battle.”

At the time, the working assumption was Campbell was talking about a fifth, potentially even sixth spot on the roster. Instead, the Lions kept just four receivers, surprising every outside observer by cutting veteran Greg Dortch, the offseason free-agent signing who had spent the past three seasons with offensive coordinator Drew Petzing in Arizona.

Dortch ultimately signed with Buffalo’s practice squad following the release. Asked specifically about that decision, Holmes kept it simple, essentially saying Dortch didn’t win a job.

“Look, the whole time, we wanted to add as much competition as possible this whole offseason,” Holmes said. “When you add as much competition as possible — I thought it was fierce competition — it adds more discomfort. It also entails harder decisions. That’s really all it was. He was just part of that competition and unfortunately it didn’t work out. That’s why we made the move.”

On keeping just four receivers, Holmes admitted it’s a little light, but the roster’s makeup today isn’t necessarily what it will be next week or next month.

The GM highlighted Tom Kennedy’s inclusion on the practice squad after proving more special teams ability last season.

The release of Dortch left the Lions without a clear front-runner for the punt return job, but Kennedy is a strong contender for that role to open the season. The team can elevate him off the practice squad three times before they’d need to add him to the 53-man roster.

Pacheco prognosis

Detroit did some creative but curious roster maneuvering the past few days involving running back Isiah Pacheco and tight end Tyler Conklin.

On Sunday, the team cut Conklin, but re-signed him on Tuesday after placing Pacheco on injured reserve. It raised the question, why not place Pacheco on injured reserve on Sunday, when the team still had one designation to use?

I asked Holmes if they were waiting on additional (medical) information on Pacheco, causing the delay. The GM’s response was vague.

“Yeah, with the information that we had, that's why we decided to do it when we did.”

One potential hypothesis is the Lions aren’t sure if Pacheco will return to action this season. Back injuries can be tricky, so the team opted not place him on IR at cutdowns because they would have needed to designate him to return and they’re limited to bringing back eight players off injured reserve during the season, a threshold they bumped up against last season.

For what it’s worth, Holmes didn’t imply that Pacheco will be lost for the year.

“Pacheco, look, he's doing everything that he can to get back,” Holmes said. “We're still excited about him to get back. …I don't want to put a timetable on it right now. I'll just say that he's steadily feeling better.”

Another reporter asked directly if they expected to get Pacheco back this season.

“That's the hope,” Holmes said.

Point of emphasis up front

One of the biggest surprises of training camp was the emergence of undrafted edge defender Eric O’Neill, who played well enough during the preseason to snatch a spot on the initial 53-man roster.

Holmes shared a post-draft story about how he and college scouting director Brian Hudspeth emphasized landing O’Neill, which might surprise some people given the defender had struggled as a senior during his lone season at Rutgers, tallying just 2.5 sacks.

“He's just a very high-motor player,” Holmes said. “He's very instinctive. He's a better athlete than his numbers may indicate. He gets the most out of himself and he's just one of those guys that we knew he was going to fit right in here, in terms of what we're about from a culture standpoint. He took advantage of his opportunities and it worked out well for him.”

Within the answer on O’Neill, Holmes said the team put an emphasis on adding more pass-rush ability this offseason. That’s been reflected in the team’s decisions at defensive tackle, namely adding a smaller, quicker interior option in Skyler Gill-Howard via the draft, and keeping both him and Mekhi Wingo, who is similarly undersized.

“We wanted to have more juice, regardless,” Holmes said. “Guys like Gill-Howard, that was one of the first things that you see when you watch his tape. My first thought was he's going to be an impact, what do you call it, like a DPR, kind of sub-(package) rusher.

“But, because of his innate violence that he's wired with, he's actually been a little bit better in the run game than probably what we even anticipated,” Holmes said about the rookie. “Not that he was bad in college, but NFL's a different story. You know, when you have 650 pounds coming on you, it's hard. But because of how he's built, because he can bend, and he has this innate violence and hand usage, he gives himself a chance.”

Holmes shouted out the team’s analytics department for highlighting Gill-Howard during the draft process.

Garden watered

Holmes put a clear emphasis on refreshing the team’s offensive line this offseason and he’s pleased with the early results, particularly first-round pick Blake Miller.

“With Blake, he's gotten better and better and better and that's what we expected,” Holmes said. “We like where he's at.”

The team had also looked to have a fierce competition at left guard, but injuries derailed that battle, leaving Christian Mahogany unchallenged through most of training camp.

One contender, Juice Scruggs, had to shift to center after starter Cade Mays suffered a wrist injury. Meanwhile, veteran Ben Bartch took a little longer to get going than expected after suffering a Lisfranc break in his foot last season, and was further slowed by a camp concussion.

“Obviously, we all know that Christian Mahogany has starter-level ability,” Holmes said. “He's shown that. We wanted to increase the competition there. I know Bartch hasn't been out there as much, but when he was out there, he was good. He performed well. He just wasn't able to get out there as much. I would say the last week, with the practices, the scrimmage, and that preseason game, he earned his spot.”

Agnew did mention that some of the offseason competitions are going to carry into the regular season. Although not directly mentioned, the left guard spot figures to be one.

Content with CB depth post-Arnold

There was a mildly contentious exchange between a reporter and Holmes regarding former cornerback Terrion Arnold and whether the team felt it had done enough to investigate the situation that led to his release, or if Holmes had done enough to prepare the roster for the potential departure.

“The more information that we got throughout the process, that was the result of us doing the best and right thing for the club, which was to move on and move forward,” Holmes said. “We appreciate everything that he did, but I think with respect of the present right now, to focus on the guys that we have here, and we like the guys that we have right now in that room.”

Cornerback depth is undeniably one of the biggest questions the Lions face entering the season. The starting tandem of DJ Reed and Rock Ya-Sin has a high floor. The bigger concerns surround backups Ennis Rakestraw, Roger McCreary and Khalil Dorsey.

Rakestraw has missed most of his first two seasons and had multiple injury scares during camp. As for McCreary, he was initially set to play the slot for Detroit, and despite experience playing outside, he didn’t really start working there for the Lions until mid-camp.

Regardless, Holmes expressed confidence in the group he built and retained.

“With Ennis, just glad that his health has been better, and he's had a chance to go out there and compete,” Holmes said. “He's gotten better throughout camp. He has a lot of ability. He's got a lot of stuff in his body where he can play sticky (coverage). I thought his run game stuff improved. He showed that throughout the preseason, as well. And I think with him missing last year, he was able to really get his body in a lot better shape, in terms of his strength development and a little bit of weight added to him.

“…So we like those guys,” Holmes said. “We liked being able to bring Roger McCreary (in). He's played a lot of football, both inside and a little bit outside, I would actually argue that some of the stuff that he did on the outside, what he did last year on the outside may have been a little bit more appealing than what he did inside at his first stop (in Tennessee). We really like him. And then us being able to draft Keith Abney, he's been a quick study in terms of his instincts, his toughness, his ability to do a lot. He's a good football player.”

More contracts coming

Holmes confirmed the team still aims to get long-term deals done with tight end Sam LaPorta and safety Brian Branch after locking up linebacker Jack Campbell and running back Jahmyr Gibbs in recent months.

“Those other two, we still want to keep those guys around,” Holmes said. “Those plans haven’t changed. There're a couple factors that we still got to sort through, but in terms of us wanting those guys around, absolutely. Hopefully we can get that done.”

With Gibbs, his negotiations carried into camp, resulting in a brief hold-in for the star running back. I asked Holmes how challenging the situation was with another negotiation, Bijan Robinson in Atlanta, directly impacting the conversations with Gibbs.

“All of them (contract negotiations) are unique, especially when it gets up to that magnitude from a financial standpoint,” Holmes said. “It was just unique that both of those guys were kind of happening at the same time. It was more of just being patient. We already knew what we wanted to do. You just had to see who was going to get done first, and you had to adjust off of that.”

Non-update update

Regarding Branch and Kerby Joseph, the team’s other injured starting safety, Holmes didn’t have anything new to offer regarding expectations or timelines.

“Well, we still have confidence that they can come back, we just can't really give an exact timeline,” Holmes said. “But yeah, I mean, they're both here, they're rehabbing, they're working hard, just can't offer a timeline. The hope is to have both of them back soon.”

Branch and Joseph missed all of training camp and will start the season on the physically unable to perform list. They will be eligible to return to practice after Week 2, but can’t appear in a game until Week 5.