Lions hire Rams’ Brad Holmes for vacant GM spot

The Detroit Lions reportedly have hired Los Angeles Rams director of college scouting Brad Holmes as their next general manager, according to multiple reports.

Yahoo Sports has confirmed that Holmes, who was the only candidate for the Lions job to have multiple interviews with the team, will receive a five-year contract. He’ll replace Bob Quinn, who was fired last year as the Lions’ GM.

Holmes has spent his entire NFL career with the Rams, first breaking in with the franchise in St. Louis back in 2003 as a public-relations intern, working his way up the team’s totem pole. After breaking into the scouting department the following year, Holmes later rose to his director position in 2013.

Holmes spoke with Yahoo Sports back in 2019 to talk about his scouting philosophies, telling us then that his ultimate goal was one day to be a general manager.

“That’s an ultimate goal for sure,” Holmes said. “It takes time and it takes luck, too. You just try to make as much of both as you can with hard work and preparation along the way.”

One other candidate who was considered a potential finalist for the position was New Orleans Saints assistant GM Terry Fontenot, but he never had a second meeting with the Lions. There also was a report that the Lions had reached out to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Kevin Colbert for the position.

An Atlanta native, Holmes is the son of former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Mel Holmes and the nephew of former Lions first-round pick Luther Bradley.

In his role as scouting director, Holmes has been in the co-pilot’s seat for the Rams’ past eight drafts. Although the team has traded many of its first-round picks to acquire veterans and land QB Jared Goff in a pre-draft trade, the Rams’ success rate in the draft — notably in picks such as Aaron Donald, Todd Gurley, Cooper Kupp, Rob Havenstein and others — has been strong.

The Lions face several key decisions going forward, including the selecting of a new head coach, the future of Matthew Stafford, the contract status of Kenny Golladay and finding ways to compete in an NFC North division they have not won since 1993.

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