On Tuesday night, the Detroit Lions reportedly spotted the Rams director of the college, Brad Holmes, for a second interview for the general mail manager. He becomes the first candidate to achieve a second interview and establish himself as a finalist for the position.
But according to MMQB’s Albert Breer, he is not alone. Breer says there are at least four more candidates the Lions hope to field for a personal succession: Ed Dodds, assistant general manager of Colts, Saints VP / assistant general of proprietary staff Terry Fontenot, Saints VP / assistant GM of university staff Jeff Ireland, and George Vikings assistant George Paton.
Dodds, the group’s most popular, just finished his interview with the team on Tuesday. He is likely to be a serious candidate after considering himself out of the Panthers post earlier this week.
As for the Saints duo from Fontenot and Ireland, Fontenot is at least considered a finalist for the Atlanta Falcons post, which reportedly limited their search to Fontenot, Holmes and former Texans GM Rick Smith. Ireland interviewed the Panthers last week, but no follow-up has yet taken place.
The Lions will also compete for Paton. The Vikings assistant general manager conducted a second interview with the Denver Broncos on Tuesday while they were searching. Patro’s familiarity with Chris Spielman may be predominant in Detroit because he works with his brother Rick, the Vikings GM.
An interesting remark about these finalists is that the Lions cannot interview Fontenot and Ireland until the Saints are out of the playoffs, or until the week between the conference games and the Super Bowl, whichever comes first . However, Paton and Dodds are available to bring in every time.
The reason why the Lions were able to bring in Holmes for a second interview, even though the Rams are still in the playoffs, Dave Birkett, Detroit Free Press, explained Tuesday:
Quick explanation at the bottom of this story: Brad Holmes can interview the Lions in person because he is not in the Rams Building (lives in Atlanta). If the Lions personally want to interview one of the Saints guys again, they have to wait until they lose https://t.co/gu4NXU7mkW
– Dave Birkett (@davebirkett) 12 January 2021
So if the Lions consider Fontenot or Ireland a serious candidate, this search may not be complete in a few weeks. Last week, team president Rod Wood said if they had to wait for the right candidate, they would do it.
‘We’ll be willing to wait if it’s necessary to find the right person, yes. There is no deadline in our process. ”