Pride of Detroit
Which selection in the 2025 Detroit Lions draft class was your least favorite?
No general manager is perfect, but Detroit Lions’ Brad Holmes has been close.
It’s impossible to deny the amazing job Holmes has done the minute he took over the personnel department in 2021. He had a plan and he stuck to it. In a manner of three years, the Lions became one of the most competitive teams in football, and they stand to enter their third straight season with serious championship hopes.
Most of his best work is done on draft weekend. He’s managed to hit home runs in the first round (Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, Jahmyr Gibbs), on Day 2 (Alim McNeill, Kerby Joseph, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch), and on Day 3 (Amon-Ra St. Brown, Malcolm Rodriguez).
Holmes has learned a level of trust that is unheard of within the Lions organization. So, honestly, it feels petty to complain about anything. But that doesn’t mean you, at home, have to agree with everything he does.
On Sunday, we talked about our favorite pick of Holmes from the 2025 NFL Draft. Now let’s talk about the other side of the coin.
My answer: I’m not going to dig into it much, because I’ve already talked about it plenty. But I just wasn’t the biggest fans of the third-round pick of Isaac TeSlaa. He’s a bit of a project (by Holmes’ own admission) that was taken significantly ahead of projections. I know media big boards aren’t reality, and I would never suggest that TeSlaa would’ve been available later, because I simply do not know that. However, Holmes’ track record of taking on projects earlier than expected seems to be his one weakness. It hasn’t worked out with Brodric Martin or Colby Sorsdal—although, admittedly, those players have only been in the league a couple years. Projects do take time.
But that’s part of my point. Even if TeSlaa works out, it’s going to take some time, and Holmes just spent a heck of a lot of resources to go get him. It’s a big swing, and if it works out, great! But if it doesn’t, Holmes spent two future picks—where he very likely could’ve gotten some long-term contributors next year—on a player he knew was going to need some development.
How about you? Which pick was your least favorite?
