Detroit’s GM search adds two more candidates

Team completes talks with Rams’ Brad Holmes, Vikings’ George Paton

On Wednesday, the Detroit Lions continued their expansive search for their next general manager.

After interviewing Terry Fontenot, the assistant GM and vice president of pro personnel for the New Orleans Saints, earlier this week, the Lions have completed interviews with Brad Holmes and George Paton.

Holmes, the Los Angeles Rams’ director of college scouting, has worked with the organization for the past 18 seasons, and played a role in the drafting of Aaron Donald back in 2014.

Paton, the Minnesota Vikings’ assistant general manager and vice president of player personnel, is drawing plenty of interest across the league due to Minnesota’s success the past few seasons.

The veteran front office executive spent time in the personnel departments of Chicago and Miami, before joining Minnesota in

2007.

Detroit recently hired Chris Spielman to be a special assistant to Rod Wood and Sheila Ford Hamp.

Being that Paton has worked in lockstep with Spielman’s brother Rick Spielman, he may draw some increased interest from Detroit’s coalition in charge of hiring the Lions’ next head coach and GM.

Team president Rod Wood shared during his media session on Tuesday the traits he is looking for in the next head coach and general manager.

“We developed very specific criteria for both positions that we’re looking for that are unique. Not totally unique, but we think in some cases very unique to our situation,” he said. “I would say they focus on leadership, culture, teamwork, awareness of each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and what we’re really looking for is a culture that is open, inclusive, where everybody is pulling together as a team. And, in one word, communication is paramount, and everybody is doing the right thing for the Detroit Lions.”

He added, “The people that we’re looking for and the people that we’re bringing in to interview exhibit those traits. As we go through the interview process, hopefully, we find people that we’re 100 percent confident will be the right people for the organization. And, as I said in I think one of the previous calls, that’s very different than how we approached the search for Bob (Quinn) and Matt (Patricia), where we were more focused on candidates because of their accomplishments, as opposed to criteria that had been established before we started interviewing with them. So, I’m very comfortable with the process and how it’s working so far and the criteria that we’ve developed.”