Team has ‘all kinds of holes’ to fill in free agency
The reconstruction of the Detroit Lions is about to begin, and head coach Dan Campbell understands that Detroit has many holes to plug in just a short amount of time.
“We understand where we’re at with this. You can go through the roster and it’s no secret that receiver is somewhat of a need.” Campbell told reporters on Tuesday. “Cornerback, we don’t have a lot of depth. And you’re always looking for competition in areas. Your linebackers, your inside D-line. You probably need O-line depth. So there’s all kinds of holes that we have here -- but no different than any other team.”
Despite the team having to consider salary cap restrictions in their decisions, Detroit’s new head coach does not want general manager Brad Holmes to feel like they have to ‘reach’ for any players during the NFL draft.
“Let’s not feel like we have to say, well we don’t really love this guy, but man we need a linebacker. We don’t really love this guy, but man we need an inside defensive lineman,” Campbell explained further. “We’ll find a way to ad
dress some of these spots. And if it’s got to be some of these free agents who maybe aren’t quite as talented, but man they’re gritty, salty guys that know how to compete and they’ll hold their own in there, we’ll find those guys.”
GM’S opinion on salary cap
Recently, the NFL established the salary cap floor would be set at $180 million, a slight increase from earlier projected numbers.
For Detroit, while the organization currently sits over the cap, it is not expected to significantly hinder general manager Brad Holmes’ plans this offseason.
“There’s been obviously some uncertainty in terms of what that will be from our planning standpoint,” Holmes explained.
“We’ve actually been weighing every single scenario from the most optimistic scenario of what it would be to the worst case scenario.
It goes back to the process in the planning stages in terms of how it works. I will say that Mike Disner has been excellent in terms of his expertise in the salary cap and working with Dan and myself and working through those areas. He’s made the process probably about as seamless as it could have been in terms of his utilization and how he sees it and it fitting to how we are planning on building the team.”