Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew Press Conference

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Brad Holmes and ray Agnew Season Opening Press Conference

Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew held their season opening press conference this morning and provides some insight on roster construction, decisions on players in the offseason and what some of the future my hold.

Quick Hitters

• Holmes multiple times pointed out his appreciate for his staff in identifying players using metrics and other scouting techniques to uncovers guys in the UFL, or in lower rounds

• Holmes stated that with Terrion Arnold it was unfortunate, kid made a mistake, the Lions did what was best for them and they like the guys they have in the room. Said as they received more information on Arnold and the situation, they felt it was best to waive him.

• There was a testy back and forth for a few minutes as Dave Birkett of the Free Press was grilling Holmes on when they knew, or should have known, that Arnold wouldn't be around and that the perception is that there should have been a starting level Outside CB replacement brought in. Holmes said multiple times they like the players they have, they brought in Abney and McCreary and re-signed Ya-Sin.

• Holmes was asked about the WR room being a bit light with only four on the main roster, but essentially that is the way the competition unfolded. Holmes did say "right now or currently" while talking about it, so more moves may be coming at this position.

• Hlmes mentioned that Rakestraw having the year off to recover form injury helped him get his body in better shape for the NFL despite the two minor injury scares in the preseason. More weight and strength were mentioned.

• Holmes was asked about Pacheco and why he wasn't put on IR with designation to return on cutdown day and if that was indicative that he may be out for the season. Holmes said the timing was to confirm the injury was something that needed to be on IR, and the hope is to get him back this season, but Pacheco is getting better daily and doing everything to get back on the field.

• On a question about some of t teams' acquisition of injury prone players Holmes basically said that is part of the risk because the game is physical

• On Dortch release, Holmes interestingly said that it was a fierce competition and that i adds discomfort, and Dortch was part of that hard decisions and it didn't work out. reading through the lines, there may be some validity (because Holmes talked about culture and intangibles being part of decision making for one guy over maybe a slightly better athlete a couple question later.

• Holmes said he is hopeful to get deals done for Branch and LaPorta as the plans havent changed, they want to keep those guys around

• Holmes mention Gill-Howard was impressive as an interior pass rusher, but they were surprised at his violence, and he has been playing well in run game also.

• No updated timelines on Branch or Joseph returns. Holmes did say that Joseph is in the building, which was new info since last heard from Campbell

Brad Holmes and Ray Agnew Press Event Transcript

• Opening Statement Brad Holmes: Um, good to see everybody. Uh, can y'all hear? Check. I don't know if this is working or not, but okay, it's fine. Um, I don't think this mic is working, but anyways, uh, good to see everybody. Um, want to first off, um, I want to thank all the players for all their efforts. um really all uh it's been over 90 obviously just because of all the guys that we brought in and out but um want to thank for all their efforts um not just training camp but the past you know let's say five or 6 months that they've been preparing to get ready for this moment so um really appreciate their efforts or sacrifice especially for this camp um felt like the competition was pretty fierce and um you know guys that put in all that time and effort and to get ready for this moment especially ones that uh we unfortunately couldn't keep. Um, you know, it's hard. Um, obviously I thought Dan did a great job managing the camp. Um, even going all the way back to um, right after the draft, you know, the phases of the offseason program, OTAs, um, just had everything uh, kind of married up very nicely with the management of everything, getting the necessary work in uh, getting the guys prepared. So, um I mean he's always he's always done a great job about that. And then really the whole coaching staff really um you know um you know you can bring the competition in, but to have those guys to play fast, to compete hard, um those guys getting pushed, um it's I mean it's golden evaluation opportunities to look at those guys. So, um everybody did a great job. Personnel department, it's a big time for us um you know, around this time of the year. Um so a lot of hard work goes into this process of you know kind of monitoring the entire league um around this time and really I mean so many people to name to have a successful training camp so you know um our performance staff our trainers operations grounds crew everybody uh was really too many to name but it's all hands-on deck um take any questions

• Just to get the Terrion Arnold stuff out of the way first you know I think there was a uh kind of like a lingering question just about whether you guys did enough to insure yourself at that position given what he was dealing with in the off season and maybe you know we you know a lot of people thought that it was inevitable that he was going to you know get arrested. Um so as you look back did you did you Terrion taking him at his word? Did you guys do enough investigation, or do you think you fell short if at all in that regard? Both with Terrion decision to not get more insurance at the position and just to you know take him at his word that nothing was going to happen to Oh yeah. I mean um look the whole the whole situation um obviously was unfortunate. Um you know look kid made a mistake. uh the more information that we got um throughout the process, you know, that was the result of us doing what the best and right thing was for the club, which was to move on and move forward. Um appreciate everything that that he did, but um I think with respect of the present right now, um to focus on the guys that we have here and uh we like the guys that we have right now in in that room. So, um I hope that answers the question.

• I guess I was curious when that was going on if you did enough as you look back to ensure yourself for this instance that he's not there. Like could you have made another acquisition in free agency in the draft to, you know, backs stop that this was going to happen in the spring? It seemed like you didn't think that that Terion was, you know, you thought he would be a part of this organization. HOLMES: No, that's that that didn't go into the decision of what we did in this past offseason. Again, like I said, we like the guys that we have in this room. AGNEW: I think those guys I mean a little bit more respect for what those guys have done and what they can do in the football in the National Football League. Those guys that played a lot of football and uh so we feel good about those guys.

• I think one area where you maybe a little bit lighter than you have been in in past seasons is that the receiver room obviously have some elevations with Kennedy and some guys on the practice squad, but maybe just the decision to have four guys. What you like about that room, its makeup, and kind of how you went through that process of creating that room. HOLMES: Yeah, I um yeah, four is obviously a little bit on the lighter side. Uh that's just where we're at right now um today currently, but um but I do like the different flavors in that room. Um you know, obviously we all know, you know, St. Brown and J Mo and, you know, Tesla. Um, you know, I know he dropped a couple of balls in a preseason game, but I thought he had a good camp, too. Um, you know, just the little things that he does in the run game, which those aren't little things, actually. Those are really big things that he does in in the run game. And I thought that he improves with his route running, his releases, all those things. So, um, you know, was pleased with his camp as well. But um you know uh I thought Tom Kennedy you know um like you mentioned you know he had a that's why he's still part of our 69 currently right now um you know he was able to add some special teams to his repertoire um he kind of did a little bit of that last year um being but you know we all know the versatility that he has and then I thought Tay Martin uh did a really good job in terms of you know a guy that you know and credit our personnel staff in terms of man scouring the UFL making sure all those guys are looked at. Um, you know, there there's mechanics of even bringing those guys in and when you can even sign those guys in terms of in relation to the completion of their season. Um, so, um, I give a lot of credit to those guys in terms of being patient, uh, sticking to the process and finding a guy like him to bring in. But he just he made it relatively easy throughout camp in terms of, uh, his contributions in the run game, his contributions on special teams, and he showed the ability to win 1on1's. Um, and so when you're doing all those components at that position, um, you know, especially when you're looking at towards the back end, um, you know, it's you can fit in right here.

• A little bit more on the cornerback room, Brad. I think on the outside, we can see the high floor with Rock and DJ. I'm curious you're if you could expound a little bit more on the confidence you have in the depth. Um, particularly with Ennis maybe had a couple, you know, injury scares, I guess, obviously with the durability history. Um and the Nickel situation has seemed like it's kind of gone to the finish line with its fluidity there as well. HOLMES: Yeah. Um obviously we like we like the depth that we have behind like you said. Um you know DJ and Rock um look Rock played really good football for us last year. He's had a really good camp this year. Um, you know, and then, you know, Ennis, I'm just glad that he, you know, his health is, you know, is been better and, um, you know, he's had a chance to go out there and compete and he's gotten better throughout the camp. Um, he has a lot of ability. He's got a lot of stuff in his body where he can play sticky. Um, you know, I thought his run game stuff improved. He showed that throughout the preseason as well. Um and so and I think it was him missing last year, he was able to really get his body in a lot better shape in terms of his strength development and a little bit of weight uh added to him. So um I think it actually helped as much as you know you look at he missed all that time. Um so we like those guys. We liked uh you know being able to bring Roger McCreary back. He's played a lot of football um both inside and a little bit outside. Um, I would actually argue that some of the stuff that he did on the outside was um, what he did last year on the outside may have been a little bit more appealing than what he did inside um, at his first stop. So, um, really like him. And then, you know, us being able to, uh, draft Keith Abney, um, he, um, he's been a quick study in terms of his instincts, his toughness, um, his ability to, um, to do a lot of, he's a football player. So, um, when you really like think about you look at the totality of the group, you still got Dorsey, you know, that's been, you know, I think he's one of the better gunners, um, in in in the league. And, um, I just I think overall I think we have a good group there.

• I just have to circle back one last time on Terrion just since we're on the cornerback just so I don't leave this left unsaid or asked. Um, what did you guys do to uh affirm his story that he told you Uh you know after he was uh after he was implicated in the incident before he was arrested? Did you guys investigate? Did you just take him at his word? What did you guys do to HOLMES: No, it's just we had a lot of information that was coming in uh that we were privy to and then we just uh you know made sure that we did not ignore any of the information and we looked at it and then um we came to the decision to move on and move forward after we you know had enough information.

• I guess the information that changed was just him getting arrested. You didn't know that that was a possibility before. There was nothing I mean, you didn't have a sense that that could have been the case and you didn't, you know, you know, again, I think a lot of people think you should have done more in the cornerback room. He was a starter last year and you didn't I know. HOLMES: Are you saying to not get a another young starting outside corner that was on another team? Is that is that what you're asking?

• I'm asking if you could have done more in retrospect to ensure the position, you know, given that this, you know, he's no longer part of HOLMES: Dave, I've asked I've answered multiple times. We like the guys that we have in the room right now. So, are you saying because we didn't get another young outside starting corner from another team or did because we didn't pick one in the first round? Is that is that what you're asking?

• I'm asking if you thought you should have done more with free agency or the draft or one of those avenues to acquire players to acquire another cornerback. HOLMES: We did bring players in. We did we did draft a corner. We did bring a corner in free agency. Yeah, I that's we did resign a corner. So that's why I'm asking you. Cuz you're saying that we didn't we didn't do anything. So

• Terrion was an outside corner. You signed Roger who played a lot in slot. You just talked about him obviously. You know Keith the same thing. So it seemed like you lost the starting slot uh outside cornerback without adding another cal starting caliber outside quarterback. HOLMES: That's what I asked you. I was like are you saying we didn't do anything because we didn't do that what you just said?

• Well, that's I guess that's what I'm saying. That that is the perception that maybe there could have been more done at that position. HOLMES: We like the guys we have. We like what we've done and we feel good about what's in the room right now.

• You didn't uh use one of the IR to return spots on Pacheco despite the fact you had one available. Does that indicate a concern that he might not be back at all this season? HOLMES: Um no. I think well Pacheco look, he's doing everything that he can uh to get um to get back. Uh we're still excited about him to get back and um you know um you know he's on we didn't do it uh we didn't use those one of those spots before cut downs but uh he's on there now.

• Quick follow up on that. What's a time on his potential return? HOLMES: Uh look I don't want to put a time on it right now. Um I'll just say that look he's steadily feeling better. Um and you know um he's again he's doing everything that he can to get back and we're excited to get him back when he's health

• At some point this season? HOLMES: That's the hope.

• Delay Brad just because you were waiting on additional information with the IR decision from Sunday to Tuesday. Were you just waiting on more information before moving him to IR? HOLMES: Yeah, with the information that we had that's why we decided to do it uh when we did it. Yeah

• Brad. Obviously Jamo is the exception, but with Pacheco, Davenport, you can even go Hooker, Pascal, you guys have drafted a lot of guys that had injury histories. Can you talk about how that those decisions are made and how deep into their past injuries? Are they injury prone guys? HOLMES: Um, look, um, football's a physical game and injuries occur. Um and so um you know in injuries are yeah some guys have had them in the past some have not. Um you know you can sign a player that's never really missed much time and something can happen at any point. So um you know you just understand the risk um when whenever you make an acquisition of any player and know that you know anything can happen at any time. Um that's that that's our job up here to make sure that we have um you know succession plans um and different um points where you can pivot um in place in case that happens.

• Their history. You guys know think about that before you acquire them, whether it's draft or free games. Correct. HOLMES: Yeah.

• Just curious, uh, and this question is for Ray as well, like what do you know about this roster today that you didn't know mid July? AGNEW: I would say uh I won't say it's something I didn't know, but I think this is one of the most competitive uh rosters we've had. Uh I think the competition is still going on. Guys are still competing. Uh you know, so that's the one thing I would say uh that I wouldn't say I don't know, but you know, different than in the past that all the position battles and the competition and some of it is still going on as the year goes on.

• Just curious what you what maybe for both of you just what you thought of the defensive line play throughout the uh the preseason. The Alim looks back to kind of his old self. Hutch was dominant at time. Just you see that maybe as a developing strength of this football team, the depth that you guys have up front, obviously kept a lot of guys there. Just your thoughts on that unit particularly for both. AGNEW: Yeah, I would say uh it's a strong point of the defense. Uh Alem uh he played as good as anybody in the league right now. Uh and Hutch is Hutch is the real deal off the edge. And Tyliek's grown into a heck of a football player. Uh you know, Wonnum, DJ Wonnum is bringing that veteran presence. Uh along with uh Derek Moore, the young kid we drafted for Michigan. I think that group is going to be very vital for us this year and uh I think they're going to put up a strong effort. Uh I really excited about that group.

• One more on the defensive line. Can you uh just walk us through the acquisition of Eric O'Neil? I mean obviously he had a really good summer and you know somebody that popped, what you liked about him, why it was important to keep him on the roster. HOLMES: Um, and I was going to just add on to what Ray was saying. Just there was there's a emphasis um to we wanted to add more juice and more ability to get after the quarterback um this past cycle. But Eric O'Neil, look, there's always when you get into undrafted free agency. Um there there's always a handful of guys that you know that you want to make sure you really get um for various type of reasons and Eric O'Neal was one of those guys. Um as much as the chaos was going around with cuz undrafted franchise is always a little bit of controlled chaos to a degree. Um, but I never forget Brian Hudspeth was on the phone with him and like as much chaos as going on, I'm got my ear right next to Hudspeth cuz I knew he was on the phone with him like let's make sure we get this done. Um, he's just a very um he's a very high motor player. He's very instinctive. Um he's a he's a better athlete than his numbers um may indicate. and um he gets the most out of himself and um he's just one of those guys that we knew that he was going to fit right in here in terms of uh what we're about from a culture standpoint and he took advantage of his opportunities and it worked out well for him.

• I just want to ask you about Greg Dortch. Sounded like he was a little surprised by the move too. Just what went into that decision there, the four wide receivers and kind of landed on the group that you did with him on the outside? HOLMES: Yeah, look, um, the whole time we were just like we wanted to add as much competition as possible, uh, this whole off season. Um, and look, when you add as much competition as possible, I thought it was fierce competition. Um, you know, that's it's it adds more discomfort, you know, uh, but it also entails harder decisions. And so that really all it was is just, you know, he was just he was just in he was part of that competition and, um, unfortunately it just it didn't work out. So that's why we made the moves we made.

• This question for kind of for both of y'all. Y'all been around Jared Golf pretty much his whole career. You know, going into the season, new offensive coordinator, revamping the line. Just speak to the confidence level in you guys with him going into the season with all the changes around him that he can't help you guys turn around the trip. AGNEW: JG, look, we we've known JG since he was a kid. Um, one thing that's not known about that guy, I think is a little underrated for him. He's extremely tough man. you know, he's a tough, resilient guy and uh you know, I expect nothing but good things from Jared this year. I mean, I got nothing but good things to say about Jared. So, HOLMES: yeah. Um look, when we when Jared first got here, we knew that um he still had upside to him. Um, and knowing his wiring and knowing how much it means to him and how important it is. Um, I think that combination uh is just it's been amazing that the growth is still going like he he's uh I feel like he's he gets better every year still at this point in his career. Um but just his comfort, you know, yeah, we have some familiar weapons around him, but um but that was, you know, one of the big things about adding Drew Petzing is, you know, just making sure that um that they were going to vibe. And um it's been it's been a seamless transition. Um you know, and I'm really excited about, you know, um not only you know, what Petzing is going to bring, but Jared, you know, with Petzing, I think it's going to be big for us.

• Um, this question is for both of you. You both throughout the whole, you know, time you guys have been here, you talked about finding guys that want to be a Detroit line that fit the team's culture. From what you can share from a roster building strategy, whether it's through, you know, the drafting, free agency, or looking at the trademark, what goes into the building a roster strategy like that you can that you can share with us that people on the outside may not, you know, know that goes into it? AGNEW: Well, without going into too many too many details, but uh I would say uh like the intangible part is really, you know, we got to do tough, smart, you know, like guys that that that gritty guys that like football, that love football, and we don't want guys that like what football do for them, you know, we want guys that love ball, uh and love to play football. So, I think that's the main ingredient, the intangibles. HOLMES: Yeah, I would say um just to piggyback on what Ray said, um we will we will uh sacrifice or compromise on talent um for those intangible qualities. Um you know, there might be a guy that has a little bit more speed or length or, you know, talent, but if he doesn't meet the standards from a um what we call football character and um intangible quality standpoint, then we know it's going to be a hard fit here.

• How hard are those decisions to make when it comes down to that? HOLMES: I No, I think they're easy decisions. Uh when a guy doesn't have those things and he doesn't have those things, even if he has um a baseline of talent, um if the guy doesn't fit, he doesn't fit. And we've always been aligned on that since day one. And um like I said, it actually makes the decision a little bit easier.

• Yeah. Um the offensive line was obviously a big goal to get ready by the start of the season. Um, just kind of curious how comfortable you are with where that unit is, particularly at left guard where I think maybe injuries forced you out of a competition that you were looking forward towards. HOLMES: Yeah. No, it's a good question. Um, look, we're really excited about that group. Um, you know, obviously we got a lot younger and um, you know, a lot of guys had a lot of opportunities to um to grow that we're already excited for. So, um, you know, starting with, you know, like Blake, you know, like he's gotten better and better and better, uh, every single day, which is that's kind of what we expected. So, kind of really like where he's at. Um, you know, and obviously, you know, we all know that Christian Mahogany, you know, has starter level ability. He's he he's shown that, but obviously wanted we wanted to increase the competition there. Um, I know Bart hasn't been out there as much, but when he was out there, he was good. Like he performed well. Um he just wasn't he wasn't able to be out there as much. But um I would say last week with the practices, the scrimmage, and that preseason game, um you know, he uh earned his spot. And um you know, and look, we still had guys like Scruggs that was going to be in that spot. It's just the unfortunate injury to Cade kind of forced Scruggs into that kind of used to be guard center and kind of center only. So, that was kind of one piece of the competition, but it was good to um finally see Miles Frasier out there. Um, you know, he's I mean, he's not a rookie, but kind of, you know, he just didn't have a whole lot last year. So, this is kind of his first year really having an off season, having a whole training camp, and he was able to show some things uh not just at guard, but some versatility at tackle as well.

• Just because we won't talk to you for a few months on the four extensions you were looking to get done this off. You got two of those done. Um I'm curious just how uniquely difficult the Gibbs one was just with the Bijan factor kind of in there and the time there. And then are you still um you know hopeful on Sam and Brian regardless of the timetable? HOLMES: Yeah. Um, so, uh, starting with Gibbs, um, yeah, there like all of them are unique, especially when it gets up to that magnitude from a, um, from a financial standpoint. And it was just unique that both of those guys were kind of happening at the same time. So, um, it was just more of kind of just being patient like we already knew what we wanted to do. Um, you know, and you just had to see who was going to get done first and you got to kind of adjust and pivot off of that. Um but uh we still want to those other two we still want to keep those guys around. Those plans hadn't changed. Um you know there's a couple of factors that you know um that we still got to sort through but um but in terms of us wanting those guys around absolutely we hopefully we can get that done.

• Just real quick the moving from a space eating defensive tackle maybe more some of the quick transition guy like Sky Gill-Howard. How much was that kind of connected to the nickel in moving to migrating to maybe the nickel and also the issues I guess that you might have in the secondary with you know Brian and Kirby being out. HOLMES: Yeah. Uh look regardless of what our situation's going to be uh in the secondary. We wanted to add more juice. Um look we have guys that can play the run obviously and look we say it all the time. He look you got to earn the right to pass rush. So, you can't just have all pass rushers from out the gate, but you can't stop the run if you're just getting gashed all day. You don't need to throw the ball, but we've done a good job and Shep's done a great job just in terms from a run defensive standpoint and there and his structures and how we deploy that personnel. We wanted to add more juice regardless. Um, guys like um Gill-Howard, did you mention Yeah, just mentioned him. Guys like Gil Howard, um that was one of the first things that you see when you watch his tape. Um my first thought was he's could be an impact um you know what do you call like a DPR kind of sub rusher but because of his innate violence um that he's wired with then he's actually been a little bit better in the run game than probably what we even anticipated. Not that it was bad in college, but NFL is a different story, you know, and so if you have 650 pounds coming on you, it's hard, but because of how he's built because he can bend and he's he has this innate violence and hand usage, he gives himself a chance. So, um but yeah, that was um that was a that was a guy that we always had appreciation for, affinity for. Um uh and also I got to give our um our analytics department a shout out too because they were able to find some signal on you know guys like him and you know a couple other guys that were able to acquire couple other guys.

• Justin asked about Brian. Are you uh how confident when will he be back? Him and Kirby and how confident are you that they'll be the same players after uh Well, um, we still have confidence that, you know, they can come back. You just can't really give a exact timeline. Um, but yeah, I mean, they're both here. They're rehabbing. They're working hard. Just can't offer timeline, but yeah. Um, yeah, the hopes is to have both of them back at some point.

Transcript compiled with assistance of AI