'We Are Looking for Villains': Lions Have Transformed Defense

Lions secondary is no longer a weakness.

Detroit Lions fans celebrate with the pick of Ennis Rakestraw Jr. / Eric Seals / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Detroit Lions may have just become 'DBU' after using their first two draft selections in 2024 on cornerbacks.

After struggling to see results the past couple of seasons, one of the clear areas of need for the Lions' defense was the cornerbacks room.

With their free-agent additions and after drafting two cornerbacks, Detroit's secondary now has a much brighter future.

"We don’t really care the position, it’s just we take the best player. It just so happens that set up. Again, it’s something that we’ve always been trying to find that future at that position, and it just never really matched up. It never really lined up," said Brad Holmes. "We weren’t in a position to get one or we just had a better player at another position ranked over that – another corner. It’s not anything that we’ve been ignoring or anything, it just really hadn’t been lined up. 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.”

'Bloodbath'

The competition in the defensive backs room will be heavily monitored throughout the offseason and into training camp.

With a mix of veterans and youth, the secondary is expected to take a significant leap forward in 2024.

"Yeah, it’s a bloodbath in there now. It is, and that’s what makes everything better. It makes the room better, it makes the defense better, it makes the team better," Holmes explained. "Competition just brings the best out of everybody. And look, it’s something that – we didn’t go into it saying that we were going to get two corners in the first two rounds. We really didn’t, it was just he was the highest-graded guy for us at the time. We went ahead, and you know how we roll. We went ahead and got him. But, those were also our top-two ranked corners, as well."

Waking up feeling aggressive

Prior to Day 2, Detroit's fourth-year general manager expressed he woke up wanting to be aggressive, with the intent of potentially moving up in the second round of the draft.

"Going into today, I kind of went into today thinking we’re just going to sit there at No. 61 and stay pat and see what falls to us. But, we were actually making calls trying to get up into the high 30s and 40s. I kind of woke up with kind of an aggressive mindset, and there were some dudes still up there that we really liked and we were just trying to get them," Holmes revealed. "But then, you’ve also got to look at, okay, these resources that you allocate to move up and the future capital and all that, we also have meetings about, ‘Okay, what’s that going to look like when this time comes next year?’ Or ‘Is that going to affect what we might have to do in the future?’ I try to be very, very mindful of not being a prisoner of the moment."

Positional Villains

On Day 2, Detroit's draft room was in solidarity, as the room all wore "Positional Villain" hoodies.

While Holmes has not revealed what his definition of "villain" actually is, it is clear Detroit's front office and personnel department are working diligently to dispel the notion of "positional value" during the draft process.

"I didn’t know that it was a thing where you would draft a position regardless of the player, because I think that’s very easy," said Holmes. "Just like I talked about it with free agency in the spring. You can win the headlines in March and April and all that stuff. That’s easy to draft whatever the premium positions are – quarterback and EDGE rusher and tackle and those positions.

"Say you draft only those positions, but they’re not contributing to your football team. So, did you win the draft? Did you win the draft because you drafted those positions? But, they’re not contributing to your football team," Holmes explained further. "Or do you draft the best football players that contribute to your football team, that make you a better football team? We’re trying to draft football players that contribute and make us a better football team versus just those. 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.”

👀 got some new Draft Room swag this year pic.twitter.com/30rsK3PALs

— Detroit Lions (@Lions) April 27, 2024