Aggies’ Holmes Named Executive Vice President and GM of Detroit Lions

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Jan. 14, 2021) – North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Aggies standout Brad Holmes ’02 has been named the executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Lions National Football League team.

Holmes, 41, most recently served as director of college scouting for the Los Angeles Rams, the team with which he has spent his entire 18-year NFL career. Under the terms of his hire agreement, he will oversee the Lions’ football operations and report directly to principal owner and chairman Sheila Ford Hamp and president and CEO Ron Wood.

Holmes is believed to be one of the first – if not the first – HBCU graduates to hold the general manager position for any major professional sport, including baseball, basketball and hockey.

“Throughout our search for a new general manager, Brad was someone who stood out immediately,” Wood said in a Lions news release. “His abilities as a critical thinker, along with his extensive experience implementing technology and analytics into his approach to scouting, were among the many decisive qualities Brad displayed in our time getting to know him during the interview process.”

Recruited as an all-conference defensive tackle out of Chamberlain High School in his native Tampa, Florida, Holmes turned down scholarship offers from Bethune-Cookman University and Florida A&M University to attend A&T.

As an Aggie, Holmes was a four-year letterman, two-year starter and 2001 captain of the Aggies football team, which won the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) and HBCU National Championship in 1999 under legendary coach Bill Hayes.

During his time at A&T, Holmes also triumphed over incredible challenges resulting from a terrible accident.

While Holmes was visiting Tampa during his 1999 Christmas break, a Lexus SUV hit the Honda Accord he was driving head-on, leaving him with a ruptured diaphragm. He fell into a coma and suffered a stroke before he underwent emergency surgery. Following a second corrective surgery, he was left partially paralyzed on his right side and spent three weeks in the hospital. With intensive speech and physical therapy, he recovered his ability to speak clearly and was released to play football again in May 2001.

Holmes graduated cum laude from N.C. A&T with a B.S. in journalism and mass communications.

After originally joining the Rams in 2003 as a public relations intern, Holmes transitioned into scouting and served in a variety of roles within the organization’s player personnel department, including national scout, area scout, national Combine scout and scouting assistant. In his previous role, Holmes collaborated with the Rams' personnel directors to improve technological resources and enhance overall scouting procedures.

While holding a prominent leadership role in the player personnel department from 2013 to 2020, Holmes helped the Rams achieve a 64-58 record (.524), while having 25 players – including 2017 Offensive Player of the Year Todd Gurley, 2017 and 2018 Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, and two-time Pro Bowl quarterback Jared Goff – named to the Pro Bowl during that span.

During his tenure leading the Rams’ college scouting department, Holmes helped the team capture two NFC West titles en route to three playoff berths and an appearance in Super Bowl LIII. Los Angeles defeated Seattle last week to earn a spot in the Divisional Playoffs against Green Bay on Saturday, Jan. 16.

“It was evident early on that Brad is a proven leader who is ready for this opportunity. We are thrilled to introduce him to our fans as a member of our football family,” Hamp said.

Holmes is the son of Marvin Holmes, who also played football at A&T and was a guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1971-73), and nephew of former Lions defensive back Luther Bradley (1978 first-round NFL draft pick). He and his wife, Lisa, have a son, B.J., and a daughter, Lola.