Lions GM Brad Holmes: Upcoming extensions affected free agency approach
The Lions did not make the playoffs at the end of the 2025 season and their approach to the offseason was a topic of conversation for General Manager Brad Holmes this week. During an appearance on the Lions Collective podcast, General Manager Brad Holmes shot down the notion that there was a difference of opinion within the franchise about how to build the 2026 roster as well as how the team's recent drafts have impacted their other moves. The Lions have seen players like Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alex Anzalone, Taylor Decker, Amik Robertson, and David Montgomery move on to other teams.
Center Cade Mays was the only addition who signed a multi-year contract with Detroit and Holmes said that thoughts about extensions for running back Jahmyr Gibbs, linebacker Jack Campbell, tight end Sam LaPorta, and safety Brian Branch — all of whom were 2023 draft picks — put the "sustainability" of the current roster in the forefront of the team's thoughts. "When we're looking at the constraints we had financially entering in, we're not going to be able to do a lot of multi-year deals ," Holmes said. "For what we're trying to do with these extensions that we have upcoming, the implications that it would have on our cap would be — I don't want to call it crippling, but it would have been hard to overcome.
We were kind of limited in how many multi-year deals that we actually could get. " The job Holmes has done through the draft since arriving in Detroit helped turn the franchise around and the work he can do to maintain that foundation will have a lot to do with how high the Lions can rise in the coming years.