The man behind the scenes of the Detroit Lions' rebuild is finally getting some recognition for his work.

Lions general manager Brad Holmes was named NFL Executive of the Year on Thursday by the Pro Football Writers of America.

Holmes, in his third season as GM, has teamed with Lions coach Dan Campbell to acquire the bulk of the roster that propelled the Lions to the NFC Championship game this season for the second time in franchise history.

The Lions play the San Francisco 49ers at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Levi's Stadium for the right to go to the Super Bowl

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This year, Holmes used the final first-round pick he acquired as part of the Matthew Stafford trade in 2021 to add two key pieces to the Lions offense — and did so while eschewing long-held draft believes on positional value.

Holmes traded down from No. 6 to No. 12, where he took running back Jahmyr Gibbs with his first of two first-round picks. The Lions acquired the No. 34 pick in the draft as part of the deal, which Holmes used on tight end Sam LaPorta.

Gibbs finished with 1,261 yards from scrimmage this season, including 945 yards rushing, and scored 11 touchdowns in the regular season and had the game-winning 31-yard TD in last week's playoff win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

LaPorta set an NFL rookie record with 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Both players are finalists for NFL Rookie of the Year.

Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said Thursday that Gibbs and LaPorta have had "an enormous impact on our success this year," and he praised Holmes for spearheading a collaborative draft process.

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"We give feedback early in the offseason about the roster and the coaching staff gets to speak up of where we’re at, strengths and weaknesses and where we would like to improve on," Johnson said. "He hears everything and looks to attack the issues at hand full steam ahead. When it comes to the draft, I know between him and the head coach they are always very much on the same page. When you fall in love with a player both as a personnel staff and a coaching staff then I think what we’ve seen over the last three years is he’s willing to go out and get those guys no matter what the outside noise might say."

Along with Gibbs and LaPorta, Holmes spent a first-round pick on linebacker Jack Campbell (95 tackles, two sacks this season) and a second-rounder on slot cornerback Brian Branch (74 tackles, three INTs). Both players have been key defensive contributors this season.

In free agency, Holmes re-signed leading tackler Alex Anzalone, added starting left guard Graham Glasgow and cornerback Cam Sutton. The Lions also signed cornerback Emmanuel Moseley and safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who were hurt most of the year.

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions GM Brad Holmes named NFL Executive of the Year by PFWA