Brad Holmes worked for four different general managers during his 18 years with the Los Angeles Rams. Whenever change happened, he was given a chance to prove he was worth keeping around.
And when he took over as Detroit Lions GM earlier this year, Holmes wanted to afford that same opportunity to those in the personnel department he was inheriting.
The Lions finalized their personnel staff Tuesday, announcing a handful of new hires in a scouting department that remains largely intact.
Lance Newmark (director of player personnel), Rob Lohman (director of pro scouting), Dave Sears (director of college scouting), Brian Hudspeth (national scout) and Mark Olson (national scout) are among the high-level talent evaluators who are holdovers from Bob Quinn’s 2020 staff.
Newmark, who turned down an opportunity to join the Carolina Panthers front office, and Lohman interviewed for the GM job in December.
“Through all the regime changes that I’ve been through, I’ve always been afforded the opportunity to be evaluated,” Holmes told the Free Press last week. “And I told that to Sheila (Ford Hamp) and Rod (Wood) during my interview process is that I’m going to evaluate everybody and make sure everybody has that opportunity, just as I was given that opportunity. So that’s basically just, came to the decision that, some guys I knew, some guys I didn’t, but I like where we’re at from a staff standpoint.”
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Among the new hires, Holmes appointed former Panthers scout Mike Martin director of scouting advancement and former University of Miami director of football operations Don Corzine senior advisor of player personnel operations and strategic initiatives.
The Lions, who previously hired Ray Agnew and John Dorsey to top front office posts, also promoted Jordan Martin from scouting assistant to area scout, and Dakota Duncan from scouting assistant to BLESTO scout, and hired Alexis Duhaney, Joe Harvey and Blake Ask as scouting assistants.
Along with the scouting department changes, the Lions created a player wellness division, adding Dr. Michelle Garvin as mental skills specialist/clinician and Jessica Gray and Sean Pugh as co-directors of player engagement.
Jon Dykema also was promoted to director of football compliance and lead football counsel and hired Jesse Giambra as coordinator of team operations.
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.