Brad Holmes (born July 29, 1979) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive who is the executive vice president and

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He previously served with the

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

in various executive roles from 2003 to 2020. Holmes was named to both the 2023 and 2024

PFWA The Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA), sometimes known as Pro Football Writers Association, is an organization that purports to be " heofficial voice of pro football writers, promoting and fighting for access to NFL personnel to best serve ...

Executive of the Year award.

Education and playing career

Holmes graduated

George D. Chamberlain High School George D. Chamberlain High School is a public high school in Tampa, Florida, United States. It was opened in 1956 on North Boulevard (on the corner of Busch Boulevard). The school is named in honor of George D. Chamberlain, who served for several ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

in 1997, where he was captain of the football team, and was also elected

homecoming king Homecoming is the tradition of welcoming back alumni or other former members of an organization to celebrate the organization's existence. It is a tradition in many high schools, colleges, and churches in the United States and Canada. United St ...

. Holmes graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

from North Carolina A&T in 2002 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in Journalism and Mass Communications, and was a four-year

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

for the Aggies at

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that typically lines up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the Guard (American football), offensive guards; however, he may also line up opposite one of the offensive Tackle (gridir ...

under head coach Bill Hayes. In 1999, he was voted team captain and helped A&T win the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

and

Black college football national championship The Black college football national championship, also named the HBCU football championship, is a National championship#Football, national championship honor that, since 1920, has been regularly bestowed upon the best College football teams among ...

. While visiting home after the 1999 season, Holmes was involved in a car accident that left him in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for a week. After making a full recovery, he was cleared to play his final season of college football in 2001.

Executive career

Holmes worked for

Enterprise Rent A Car Enterprise Rent-A-Car is an American car rental agency headquartered in Clayton, Missouri, in Greater St. Louis. Enterprise is the Core product, flagship brand of Enterprise Holdings, which also owns other agencies including Alamo Rent a Car and ...

while attempting to begin a career in professional sports. He soon obtained a

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

internship with the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) in 2002, which he parlayed into a public relations internship with the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis, Missouri, from 1995 through the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, California, where the team had played ...

of the NFL in 2003.

St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams

In 2003, Holmes was hired by the

as a public relations intern. While in St. Louis, Holmes struck up a friendship with

Wilbert Montgomery Wilbert Montgomery (born September 16, 1954) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for nine years with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college ...

, a two-time

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

running back and Rams running backs coach from 1997 to 2005. At the conclusion of the public relations internship, Montgomery assisted Holmes in securing a position in the Rams player personnel department. From 2003 to 2012, Holmes served in a number of front office positions with the Rams, including scout, area scout, national

Combine Combine may refer to: Machinery * Combine harvester, or combine, a machine to harvest grain crops * Seed drill, or combine seeder, a machine to plant seeds Company structure * Corporate group, an industrial business group in Western democrac ...

scout, and scouting assistant. Since joining the Rams in 2003, Holmes worked under Rams front office executives Charley Armey,

Billy Devaney William Joseph Peter Francis Devaney (born March 7, 1955) is an American football executive who was recently the general manager of the New Jersey Generals of the United States Football League (USFL), a position he has held since 2023. Prior to t ...

, and Les Snead. In 2013, Holmes was promoted to director of college scouting. In this role, Holmes was integral in the acquisition of Rams " Mob Squad" Pro Bowlers

Aaron Donald Aaron Charles Donald (born May 23, 1991) is an American former professional football defensive tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons with the St. Louis / Los Angeles Rams franchise. He is considered one of the gr ...

Jared Goff Jared Thomas Goff (born October 14, 1994) is an American professional football quarterback for the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the California Golden Bears, setting Pac-12 Conference single- ...

Todd Gurley Todd Jerome Gurley II (born August 3, 1994) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Rams. He played college football for the Georg ...

Cooper Kupp Cooper Douglas Kupp (born June 15, 1993) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Eastern Washington Eagles, winning the Walter Payton ...

Pharoh Cooper Pharoh Cooper (born March 7, 1995) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the South Carolina Gamecocks, and was selected by the Los Angele ...

, and Cory Littleton.

Detroit Lions

On January 14, 2021, Holmes was named the executive vice president and general manager of the

. Holmes signed a five-year contract, succeeding prior general manager Bob Quinn. Holmes' first transaction as general manager was trading longtime franchise quarterback

Matthew Stafford John Matthew Stafford (born February 7, 1988) is an American professional American football, football quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Georgia Bulldogs football, Georg ...

to the

in exchange for quarterback

, two first round picks, and a third round pick.

Personal life

Holmes is the son of

Melvin Holmes Melvin Holmes (January 22, 1950 – December 24, 2015) was an American professional football player with the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1971 to 1973. He is the father of Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes. Early life Holmes was born i ...

, who played offensive line for the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

from 1971 to 1973. He is also the nephew of former

defensive back Luther Bradley, a 1978 first-round draft pick. Holmes' cousin, Alex Barron, was a first-round pick of the Rams in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. Holmes is married and has a son and daughter.

References

External links

Detroit Lions profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Brad 1979 births Living people Detroit Lions executives St. Louis Rams scouts Los Angeles Rams scouts People from Tampa, Florida North Carolina A&T State University alumni North Carolina A&T Aggies football players NFL general managers African-American sports executives and administrators 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen