DETROIT – When Detroit Lions fans woke up this morning, their team had the second-best record in the NFL. They’re in first place. They just embarrassed an opponent on national television. And yet, some are still panicking.
The Lions are 6-2, and if the playoffs started this week, they would host not one, but two rounds of playoffs at Ford Field. They have a two-game lead in the NFC North Division and will play one of the league’s easiest schedules after the bye week.
So why would anyone be panicking right now? The only reaction to Tuesday’s trade deadline should be, “Trust Brad Holmes.”
I know, it’s not a scorching hot take, so fans don’t want to hear it. But it’s the only logical response.
Would this Lions team benefit from another pass rusher or defensive back? Sure, but it’s not as easy as calling up the Raiders and saying, “Sorry, I know we just beat you so badly that you had to fire your coach and GM, but wanna send us Maxx Crosby?”
The two players most relevant to the Lions who were traded at the deadline were Montez Sweat and Chase Young. It took a second-round pick to get Sweat for a half-season, and a third-round pick to rent Young.
Theoretically, would Lions fans trade three-and-a-half seasons of Brian Branch or Sam LaPorta for nine games of Sweat? Because those are the players Holmes just drafted in the second round. That’s what a second-round pick is worth when he’s your general manager.
Would you give up a third-rounder for a Young -- a player with injury and character questions that don’t match up to his actual NFL production -- when Holmes has turned late-round picks into Amon-Ra St. Brown, Derrick Barnes, Alim McNeill, Kerby Joseph, and James Houston?
The answer is no. You would not want to do that. If you would, then you’d fit in with Lions GMs from the past 65 years. But not Holmes.
Even most of Holmes’ “lesser” draft picks have worked out well for the Lions. Nobody thinks Ifeatu Melifonwu or Josh Paschal or Malcolm Rodriguez are stars, but they have important and defined roles on a winning team.
The Lions have been able to overcome a slew of injuries on both sides of the ball this season because of the depth Holmes has built through the draft. Just look at Monday night, when a backup rookie running back rushed for 152 yards behind an offensive line that was missing all three of its starters on the interior.
That doesn’t happen if Holmes trades away all of his valuable mid- and late-round picks.
Detroit hasn’t had a legitimate football team in decades, and I don’t think the plan is to go all-in on one season and then fade back to irrelevance. This is Year 1 in what should be a long, sustained window of competing for a Super Bowl. Having an extra pass rusher for nine games isn’t worth decreasing the team’s chances for the next three or four seasons.
Dan Campbell said he expects Houston to return to the Lions in the coming weeks, which means they’ll add a pass rusher who racked up eight sacks in the final seven games last season. That’s basically the same as a deadline addition, except it doesn’t cost anything.
(By the way, guess the last time Young had eight sacks in an entire NFL season. Never. And Sweat’s career high is nine sacks in 16 games.)
Detroit’s roster isn’t perfect, but perfection doesn’t exist in the NFL. This team is already good enough to compete in the postseason, without giving up what got it here in the first place: Holmes’ draft picks.