Are Campbell and Holmes in ‘total lockstep’?
Chris Simms and Mike Florio discuss the offseason chatter surrounding the Detroit Lions and question what the team must do to make another run at an NFC Championship Game appearance.
Video Transcript
I'm not being coy, but I'm also not in the business of burning people.
Someone who covers the team told me that this was the first offseason there are definite differences of opinions on roster construction between Dan and Brad.
If I were Dan Campbell, I'd be pissed.
What the hell am I doing here?
Nine wins is not acceptable.
Where's my help?
What the hell is this?
No, I don't think Dan Campbell lies awake at night with a fat head of, DJ Wonnum on his ceiling.
I mean, what, what are we talking about?
Where are my players?
Mike Valenti of 97.1 in Detroit.
Hey, when everything is going well, when you're making the playoffs, when you're the one seed, even if you lose in the postseason, you're feeling good.
When you don't make the playoffs, when you go from one seed to, to last place in the NFC North- behind the Vikings.
Last place.
Vikings embarrassed them on Christmas Day while they were still alive for a playoff berth, and the Vikings were out of it.
So it's gonna create pressure.
It's gonna create stress, and it's gonna cause everyone to take a step back and ask, "What are we doing here?"
But you know what?
When you spend all that money to extend all those players, you're gonna reach a point where you just don't have the ability to go out there and bring in all these other people that you want.
Yeah, yeah.
You can't have a team of superstars.
Yeah.
There's a critical mass beyond which you can't go.
Yeah, and it, and it, you know, it goes back to something you brought you bring up a lot in, in, in, in the Detroit Lions-Dan Campbell history of the comment he made after they lost the NFC Championship game to the 49ers when he talks about, "Hey, this might be the only time we get here."
I mean, we know.
The NFL, it's, it's about three and four-year bursts.
That's what it is.
And if your window's open for the Super Bowl or being one of those teams, it's usually only open for two to three years, and then it's like, whoa, you know, hopefully we can keep it open, but we got a lot of reconfiguring to do.
And there, they didn't take advantage of their chances to be that, whether that's that 49ers game, and I certainly still think they should've kicked the field goal, and then they played bad at home as the one seed against Washington, and Jared Goff had a bad game and all that.
And then it's, oh, man, there's your two years.
You were in the window, arguably the best team in football.
You didn't get there, and now everybody wants your coaches, too.
And now, oh, w- oh gosh, okay.
So we didn't lose that many players yet, but damn, we lost some infrastructure.
And then now we're starting to lose players, too, 'cause you can't pay everybody and do that, and some guys have gotten a little older, and they're gonna retire or move on, and you're, you're dealing with rich people problems in the NFL.
But that was the first time they had to deal with that in Detroit, and now we're gonna kinda see if they can rebound in the right way.
It's the first time last year it felt like they fought real adversity, in the Dan Campbell era, and that's, you know, gonna be interesting to see how they bounce back from it.
Nine and eight last year, which the Lions of past years would have taken and run with, but they were 27 and seven the two prior seasons.
Think about that.
They lost more games in '25 than they did in '23 and '24 combined.
Amazing.
Brad Holmes was asked about this dynamic of the backroom conversations.
He was on the Lions Collective Podcast, and the question was whether the conversations with Dan Campbell have been more intense after what happened last year.
When you have a disappointment of a season like we had, it's more intense in terms of, I think, what I spoke about about at the end of the season press conference is that it is a deeper, harder look from top to bottom on everything.
And that's what me and Dan have done in joint alignment.
so that, that would be the only intensity that was- Yeah probably a little further because you get this eye-opener.
It's like, whoa, hold on now.
And so let's just make sure that we're not overlooking something, or if there's not a tweak or an adjustment that needs to be done.
If anything, it's me and Dan, you know, in, in total lockstep like we always have been.
Yeah.
And, you know, we're just kinda looking at everything top to bottom.
That's the way it has to be.
Alignment and lockstep, those are the two key words, and we've seen nothing to suggest that it's not happening other than, yeah, what does Dan Campbell think about the current state of the roster?
Well, he possibly understands this is where they are.
This is where they have to be.
This isn't Brad Holmes, the mad scientist, who is concocting a roster and telling the coach to deal with it.
Yeah.
This isn't the coach- Yeah rebelling against the roster he's been given.
You've gotta make tough decisions.
You've gotta reload through the draft.
You've gotta hope your young players that we don't know about yet can step up as they fill the void.
But so far this year, David Montgomery gone.
Now, we thought that needed to happen 'cause Jahmyr Gibbs is ready to be a superstar.
Exactly.
Alex Anzalone leaves in free agency.
Amik Robertson is gone.
and the guys they brought in, yeah, I, center Cade Mays, Isaiah Pacheco, Juice Scruggs via trade.
Yeah.
Like, hey, they had to address the offensive line.
The offensive line was a problem last year.
Yeah.
No, yeah.
So, so, you know, let, let's see where they go as it relates to that.
And with Pacheco, I mean, if Jahmyr Gibbs is gonna be the clear number one, they got Pacheco for, like, $1.1, $1.2 million.
That's kind of a steal for how the guy plays when he's healthy.
Yeah.
He's a good running back.
So, and they gotta pay Gibbs.
That's the other thing.
That's Definitely.
They paid all those other guys, and Gibbs is gonna want-A market value deal.
Yeah.
this is again, rich people problems here.
They've done such a good job that they gotta figure out who they want, who they don't want.
They've built such a great culture.
I mean, we talked about yesterday, they're pay- they're paying a, a duo of receivers towards the top of the NFL as far as duos are concerned.
They got a left tackle now in Penei Sewell, where we know he's one of the top paid guys.
Goff is one of the top paid quarterbacks.
Aidan Hutchinson's one of the top paid defensive guys in all the sport.
So they gotta figure things out.
But, but as a whole, still, you still look at their roster and go, "There's a lot of good."
The Lions are damn good.
A- a- and just because they went nine and eight last year, and they lost a few heartbreakers and all that, we've talked about it all the times.
The emotions of being able to climb the mountain three years in a row is incredibly tough.
It's rare.
That's why we were like, "Oh my gosh, the Chiefs are going for the third year in a row?"
Or, "Can the Patriots go for a third year in a row?"
I mean, it's just not that easy.
So, so when somebody does it, it's like, wow.
But yeah, they got a few things to figure out here, but nothing major.
You don't look at it, even with the guys that you mentioned they lost.
You're not like, "Oh my gosh, it's over.
They Oh, I mean, what are they gonna do?
They lost Amik Robertson.
Oh, th- throw out the Super Bowl."
You know, I'm, I'm being funny, but yeah, they're still a really damn good football team.
And I think sometimes too, Mike, and you know this, good football teams and coaches and GMs, they're gonna have an argument about a player or something at, from time to time.
That doesn't mean they're on a different page.
you know, so that's where I feel like this maybe got blown out of proportion, is that, yeah, there might have been a disagreement about, ooh, what I see about this player or this position, but not like so crazy.
They're like, "Ah, you stink.
Let's part our ways."
No, I think it's just healthy conversation that goes on in an NFL organization between a coach and a GM.
You know, put that graphic back up.
This is kind of amazing.
Yeah.
The Lions finished in fourth place in the NFC North, and they have the third shortest odds to win- It is the conference championship.
Yes.
Dan Campbell's gotta see that and say, "Man, you know, like, can't the bar be a little lower this year?"
"We finished last in the division, and we're seven to one behind the Rams and Seahawks, and ahead of the 49ers, the Packers, the Eagles, and the Bears.
The team that won the division and got to the divisional round, and had a chance to get to the NFC Championship, they're 13 to one, and we're seven to one?
Are you kidding me?"
Yeah.
"The Vikings are 22 to one- Yeah and they finished ahead of us."
Uh-huh.
I, I think, you know- It's surprising.
But it shows you what the Lions have built in a short period of time.
Exactly.
And they're still up on that pedestal, and it's kind of hard to stay there- It, it is when, you know, the other teams kind of figured you out, like the Vikings did.
Like they figured out, they gave everybody the blueprint maybe for defending Jared Goff, and offensive coordinator fired after one year, and it's, it's Who knows?
Look, they got the talent.
Talent's undeniable.
But talent wasn't enough last year.
Will it be enough this year?
Yeah, it's gonna be A- and I think they're looked at that way too, because the public still has faith in Dan Campbell.
I think everybody looks at it and goes, "Oh, okay.
It was a tough year."
We've seen the 49ers go to the Super Bowl, and the next year fall off a little bit, and then come back.
I mean, so this happens in the sport.
That, that It's, it's part of it.
I think people still I, at least I know me, and I think you're probably the same way.
If you make me bet will Dan Campbell and the Lions figure it out or not, I'm gonna take they figure it out.
And then they have the talent on the team and but, you know, the tough thing is, like we ta- like you're saying, this damn division is good.
It's not like somebody lucked in to be in the third place or the second place.
I mean, it's incredible these four rosters in this division, and you got your work cut out for you.
And you, you fall asleep or make a few bad fourth down, we're gonna go for it, or do something like that, all of a sudden you go, "Wait, we lost two out of three.
We were in first in the division, now we're in third."
I mean, that's how close that division is.
And, the ba- the Lions'll be back this year.
That's what I'll bet on.
That moment in January of 2024 after they blew the 17 point lead in the third quarter against the 49ers for what would've been the franchise's first Super Bowl berth, and Dan Campbell said, "I just told the guys this may have been our only shot."
That kind of candor, that blunt assessment was jarring.
And so far it's come to fruition.
They haven't gotten back to the NFC Championship in two spins of the globe since then.
And, you know, which way are they going?
It feels like they've already peaked, and they're going the other way.
The question is- Mm-hmm can they, can they re-peak?
Can they regather and go back to the top of the mountain?
The odd makers believe they can.
We'll see what happens
