Detroit Lions General Manager Opens Up on 2023 NFL Draft Decisions

Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes has opened up on his decision to draft Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round, with the running back initially expecting to be drafted late in the first round before being one of the first in the 2023 class.

Last season the Lions missed out on the play-offs despite a great run of form, which saw Dan Campbell’s Ford Field side win eight of their last ten games. Admittedly this came off the back of a nightmare opening where they won just one of their first seven games. Hence them falling at the final hurdle.

The coming season promises to be a strong one and could hopefully see the Lions return to post-season action for the first time since 2016, and the capture of youngster Gibbs could well help in that regard.

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General manager Holmes has been tracking Gibbs for a while and explained his desire to bring in the Alabama graduate, stating;

“I first fell in love with him, obviously, and I didn’t know much about him as he was at Georgia Tech the year before,”

“I first saw him at the Alabama-Texas game or earlier in the year and I saw his body type and this guy looks intriguing. And then I kind of saw what he was doing in both phases”

“Yeah, I mean he can run it, but what he can do as a receiver and the explosiveness and everything about him and we just kept doing work on him.”

Indeed the 21-year-old Georgia-born talent was also surprised at how he went so early in the draft, commenting;

“Yeah, I thought like in the 20s because that’s where it is usually for running backs,”

“I feel great. I didn’t know I would get picked as high as I did because running backs don’t get picked as high in this new age and new era of the NFL draft, but it was pretty shocking to me.”

“But I’m grateful for the city of Detroit.”

Campbell will want his Lions’ side to hit the ground running and knows he’ll have to avoid the torrid start that came in his first season in charge, and he’s been thinking long and hard about how to prevent history repeating itself;

“Yeah, you go back and forth and that’s something that I’m always thinking about is, how do we do this?”

“Is there a different approach? Were we too light? Were we too hard? Do we need to have more volume? Do we need to have more intensity? And so, everything right now — it doesn’t necessarily pertain to what you’re asking because we’re so far away from training camp.”

One would imagine that the strong second-half showing in the regular season in 2022 will hold the team in good stead, and no doubt Gibbs, Holmes, and Campbell can’t wait to get started.

The Lions will face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1, and that promises to be one hell of an opening fixture for Detroit.