Is Brad Holmes Making the Same Mistake as Bob Quinn?

Are the Detroit Lions making similar mistakes as the last regime in terms of their strategy in free agency?

The Detroit Lions first signing was a wide receiver with ties to offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn.

Veteran Tyrell Williams is coming off of an injury plagued 2020 season and is likely going to fill the void left by Marvin Jones Jr., who is set to test the market in a couple of weeks.

In his media session Tuesday, head coach Dan Campbell was asked how player familiarity will factor into the free agency acquisitions Detroit is planning to week in the next few weeks. 

“If I’m being completely transparent with you, I think, yeah, that’s a pretty accurate assessment or something I would say would be pretty much in line. But that doesn’t mean that we’re going to have all players from New Orleans here," he said. "Now, does that mean that if there’s some players from New Orleans, yeah, because I know who they are."

He added, "Brad (Holmes) and I talk about this all the time, it’s not even so much what you think they can do, it’s you know what their downside is. That’s different than anything else, in free agency you don’t always know what all the warts are. You do when you’ve been with these guys and sometimes, you’re harder on your own guys when you’re around them longer."

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It can be argued that former general manager Bob Quinn became highly enamored with players from the New England Patriots who were past their prime. 

As a result, his tenure in Motown ended after being fired following Detroit's Thanksgiving day loss to the Texans. 

For Holmes and Co., it will be imperative to avoid only targeting players they have familiarity with. 

Even though the salary cap will present some issues, it will be important for the scouting staff to find players all across the National Football League that can make plays and stay healthy. 

"I’ve said this before and the staff knows this, man, Brad’s been at the Rams, so has Ray Agnew (Jr.), right? Duce (Staley) has been at Philly. Mark DeLeone has been at Chicago. I mean, so yes, but that doesn’t mean that they are all going to be from one team. So, if there’s some guys out there that are from other teams that we have history with, this coaching staff has history with, our personnel department, our GM, our assistant GM has history with that we know and we trust and are our type of guys, yeah, I would say that would be pretty intriguing.”