Brad Holmes Explains Decision to Visit Oregon

Lions general manager Brad Holmes explains reasoning behind making his decisions to travel to pro days or to scout a college draft prospect.

In his second season at the helm of the Detroit Lions, general manager Brad Holmes is thoroughly enjoying all aspects of his current role with an NFL football team. 

“I love it every single day. Every single day you get an opportunity to dive deeper into this process, you just love every second of it, every minute of it," Holmes said at his pre-draft media session. "Often, it doesn’t really feel like work, it’s your passion and what you love to do. So, there are some grueling, long hours and there are some tough decisions. There are some, I don’t want to say sleepless nights, but there were some nights where I was waking up like, ‘OK, what are we going to do here?’ But at the end of the day, I’m very, very fortunate to be in the position that I’m in and very fortunate for this staff that I have surrounded me that has helped us get through this process. But I just love it. I just love doing it. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”

In a recent interview with The Athletic, Holmes shared insights regarding the scouting department and reasoning why certain scouting events are attended and certain aren't. 

Holmes and Detroit's front office are encouraged by their ability to be more efficient in the overall scouting of prospects, while at the same time learning a new grading system that has been implemented. 

© Kirthmon F. Dozier / USA TODAY NETWORK

Obviously, the work Holmes accomplished with Les Snead, the Los Angeles Rams general manager, provides a strong imprint on the decisions currently being made in Detroit. 

While Holmes is not traveling to many pro days and widely attended scouting events, he did decide to visit Kayvon Thibodeaux at Oregon's pro day. 

It was reported the Lions sent seven staffers to Oregon, but the actual number who attended was five. 

Holmes explained, "If I have questions about something specific, then I’ll feel like I need to go see him. Some guys, you get a chance to see live in a game; sometimes, you don’t get a chance to see him live. For example, I didn’t see a Michigan game live last year. So, when I went to the Michigan pro day, that was my first really live exposure, up close, seeing (Aidan) Hutchinson and (David) Ojabo and all those guys.

"With Oregon, I went out there and I went to a Thibodeaux game. But I went out there and I just wanted to see him live again," Holmes continued. "I had seen a lot of the pass rushers, so I wanted to make sure that I kind of had equal footing. That was a little different, because I’m often either seeing them all or not seeing any of them -- I want to eliminate the bias and noise a little bit. Make sure it’s on a level field.But I just wanted to see Thibodeaux again and give him another look."