MUNICH -- Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes, here in Germany for the Lions' international game against the New England Patriots, sat down for an exclusive 30-minute interview with The Athletic to discuss the trade deadline -- the moves the Lions made and didn't make -- and his thoughts on the team, as the second half approaches.
Here's what we discussed.
Trading for Andre Cisco; return of Kerby Joseph
The Lions made calls, did their due diligence and left the deadline with a new addition via trade: former Jets safety Andre Cisco.
A 2021 third-round pick out of Syracuse, Cisco has been on the Lions' radar for years. Holmes scouted him heavily coming out of college. The Lions had interest in Cisco as a free agent before the season, and as the deadline neared, a deal to send the veteran safety to Detroit for a 2029 sixth-round pick was finalized.
Cisco has north of 2,600 career snaps at free safety, and his versatility gives the Lions options in how they deploy their safeties. In a perfect world, Cisco becomes a high-level reserve who can spot start. Holmes, however, believes he can be more.
"He's a versatile free safety. He's good in coverage. He's smart, instinctive. Really like his athleticism, his range," Holmes said. "Obviously, knew all about him when he came out of Syracuse in the draft process. I think in our situation, I think a lot of people are viewing him as he's just a depth backup piece. But besides his rookie year -- I think he started a handful of games his rookie year but played in all of them -- he's been a starter his whole career. He was a starter for the Jets last year. Started four games this year. I thought he played well in those four starts. A guy that we've always liked. We value safeties that can do those kind of things that he's able to do."
On the surface, Cisco looks like veteran insurance if Kerby Joseph suffers a setback in his return. Joseph, however, was listed as a full participant at practice for the first time this week, and if things continue going well, he could make his season debut in Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Holmes likes what he sees.
"He's got the same fluidity, bounce in his step, all that," Holmes said of Joseph. "I think now it's just a matter of him getting into that football shape. It's just been a while. So, I think he's on track with the acclimation plan that's set out for him. So, just keep moving along."
Joseph's return, coupled with Brian Branch, Chuck Clark and Cisco, suddenly turns what was once viewed as a thin safety position into a strength. The plan is to get Cisco ready to go for his Lions debut Sunday in Munich.
Evaluating the cornerback market
The cornerback position has been a polarizing topic in Detroit.
The Lions had a good idea of the landscape after doing their homework in the months leading up to the deadline, but the cornerback market was less active than anticipated. Only one cornerback has been traded this season, Joey Porter Jr. to the Cowboys, and it was well before the deadline. The Lions were in on him and asked around about others.
Still, a move would only come at the right price and if it was a clear upgrade. Some players fell in the right-price bucket, which is important, but weren't considered upgrades. The Lions have set aside money for Branch and tight end Sam LaPorta -- both extension-eligible -- and would like to get deals done with both. Others fell in the upgrade category, but the price wasn't right.
The combination was tough to find. For a lot of teams, evidently.
"We're very thorough and what we were looking for is, if we were going to add somebody, we would have had to add somebody that's going to be an upgrade. Like, elevate the room," Holmes said. "Not somebody that's, kind of, you got to spend however much capital, potentially pay money for a player that would just -- I don't even know would be in the rotation."
Rotation is a key word here. The Lions have been rotating their cornerbacks lately -- an unusual sight in the NFL, but one that's been working. D.J. Reed has played like the CB1 they signed him to be in 2025, allowing just six receptions for 41 yards on 14 targets, while allowing a passer rating of 20.5 since Week 5. Elsewhere, the combination of Roger McCreary, Rock Ya-Sin, Ennis Rakestraw Jr. and Khalil Dorsey has stepped up in recent weeks. Since Week 5, the Lions have allowed the eighth-lowest explosive pass rate (11.5 percent) and 10th-lowest passer rating (83.1). Getting Branch back has certainly helped, and Joseph's looming return offers a glimpse of optimism for this secondary.
However, it's worth noting that of the four quarterbacks the Lions have faced in that span, one has been benched (Kyler Murray), one traded (Jacoby Brissett) and another who played injured against the Lions (Malik Willis) is now on injured reserve. We'll need to see more.
"I know what the narrative is about our group, but if you include Dorsey that's been contributing on the outside, I mean we really got five guys that we're able to just rotate through," Holmes said. "I think it's an incredible job by Dan (Campbell) and Shepp (defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard) and Deshea (Townsend), how they're rotating those guys in. It's been working. But yeah, we checked in on all of them and it just -- there's really nothing there."
How Holmes, Lions approached Jack Campbell's injury at the deadline
The Lions lost two linebackers in the same game in Week 8, and those injuries changed Holmes' deadline approach to the position. The NFL world saw Jack Campbell carted off the field, unable to move with a neck injury. They lost their captain and defensive leader, but on the same play, they also lost rookie fourth-rounder Jimmy Rolder, who's out for the season with a hamstring injury that could require surgery.
Bad timing, considering how the Lions feel about their fourth-round rookie. He was pushing for playing time at midseason, just as the Lions envisioned.
"Jack's Jack. You're not going to replace -- you're not going to get another linebacker and get that level of play," Holmes said. "It was really more losing Jack and Rolder, because Rolder was really coming along and I think he was looking towards a much bigger role, which we always had confidence that he would eventually get that. But it was more so losing Jack and Rolder."
Holmes and the front office made calls, but realized the linebacker market was slim, and the Lions weren't going to find a one-to-one replacement for Campbell. The only one moved was Chargers LB Daiyan Henley, and the deal with the Broncos ultimately fell through after Henley's physical.
Instead, they added K.J. Britt and Owen Pappoe mostly for special teams as Malcolm Rodriguez and Trevor Nowaske take on more defensive snaps. Detroit will count on Derrick Barnes, Rodriguez and Nowaske the rest of the season, barring a Campbell return. All three know the system.
"We have good linebacker depth," Holmes said. "A lot of guys play a lot of ball, as you know, but a lot of those guys have been really good special teams players for us, too. So now it's like, these guys gotta play (on defense). So, that's kind of when we kind of brought some reinforcements in with K.J. Britt and Poe (Pappoe) and those guys. But that did kind of change and it made us look at the linebacker market more."
On the idea of complacency: Holmes' message to fans
It's easy to look around the conference and see teams making moves to improve their rosters. The Bears swung for the fences to add All-Pro defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons for a pair of first-round picks. The Vikings, with a championship-caliber defense, traded a third-round pick for 38-year-old Kirk Cousins to start at QB.
When asked what he'd say to anyone who thinks the Lions are complacent, Holmes shared his perspective on the Lions' trade deadline approach.
"Complacency doesn't exist in our process," Holmes said. "We made the moves that we made because we got a player that we liked on a deal. Whatever we did, it's not indicative of our work ethic or complacency or our process. The trade deadline happens to have a title on it, but it's really not any other different week besides -- you might get an uptick in phone calls, but we're calling and working the phones all year. Like, we're doing this stuff in August and September, October. We're doing this all the time, year-round. So, there's no complacency. Nobody's in position to be complacent. You've probably heard me say multiple times, I never think it's enough. No matter how talented our roster gets, it's never enough. And once you think it's enough, that's when you'll get beat. So, there's never complacency.
"But we're also -- we're not going to make a move just to make a move to satisfy somebody outside of what we're doing. We're going to do what's right for us, and we're also going to do what we can do. We're not going to add a player that we're not excited about or doesn't make a lot of sense or is going to compromise us in a certain way."
There's a sentiment that a trade can serve as a message to its fanbase that a team is going for it -- that the Lions are pushing the chips in to win something that has eluded this franchise and many others. You can respect the teams that take that approach.
At the same time, some have to make those moves because of the state of their rosters. The Lions didn't feel pressed to make one if the right situation didn't materialize -- not because they don't believe in their team, but because of how much they do.
"Look, we have a hungry football team that is still growing, and we're on the right track," Holmes said. "I believe that our offense is really talented, very explosive. I think there's still meat on the bone there and then I think our defense is gaining confidence by the week. I just think that's just a culmination of the players taking ownership and the coaches putting the players in the right position and maximizing the personnel that we do have.
"But we will never rest on our laurels. We will never think anything is good enough. We're always gonna look inwards and look for ways to improve. That's what we've always done, and we'll continue to do."
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
