Brad Holmes cleaning up Bob Quinn’s mess

The head-scratching roster transactions made by former Lions general manager Bob Quinn will continue to impact the team in the win-loss column for many seasons to come.

In his first offseason in Detroit, new general manager Brad Holmes has been systematically correcting each and every mistake made by Quinn — moving on from bad contracts and releasing players who did not contribute consistently enough.

The releases of tight end Jesse James, linebacker Christian Jones and cornerbacks Justin Coleman and Desmond Trufant were expected when pundits began to preview Detroit’s efforts to shed unwanted contracts in order to adapt to the shrinking

cap in 2021.

In the last two weeks, Detroit has saved approximately $20 million off this year’s cap number by making roster cuts and restructuring contracts.

The signing of tight end Jesse James became a head-scratcher almost immediately when Detroit decided to draft T.J. Hockenson in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.

Former Lions offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was not heralded for his development of tight ends.

Veteran slot cornerback Justin Coleman was a solid contributor in Seattle, prior to signing with Detroit.

Quinn then proceeded to overpay for Coleman’s services, signing the defensive back to a four-year, $36 million deal, the largest contract for a slot cornerback in the entire NFL.

Coleman forced three fumbles his first season in with the Lions, but his performance tailed off in 2020 while also dealing with a hamstring injury.

“Back when I was with the Rams, I was involved with free-agency meetings. I was involved with discussions, in terms of we made a good amount of trades that I was able to be involved in those discussions. And, even during the season — weekly events, meetings — was good experience to have from a pro standpoint,” Holmes explained in his latest media session. “The cool thing about it is at the end of the day, you’re trying to add football players, and you’re trying to add good football players that fit what we’re trying to do and the best football players for the Lions.”

He added, “Whether it’s pro or college, if that’s the goal in mind, then, that’s actually been a relatively seamless process for me. It was funny — Ray (Agnew) was joking with me the other day in terms of the amount of detail that we put into the free-agency process. He even has alluded to that’s been a little bit different. That’s just the only way that I know, in terms of how to go about player acquisition, is to not leave any stone unturned. Whether it’s been with how it’s going to work with the salary cap and cash-spending, that’s all been actually a fun part of it, in terms of the player-acquisition process and the evaluation process and seeing what players really, really fit and what players fit within the salary-cap structure. That has been a fun part of the free-agency process.”

It will be imperative that the decisions made by Detroit’s new front-office regime hit on more decisions than the previous administration.

Also, the value of the contracts provided in the future must allow Detroit the flexibility to be players in free agency down the road.

So far, the mess left behind by the former regime has been cleaned up rather efficiently.