Brad Holmes’ career in pro football has taken him from St. Louis to Los Angeles to Detroit.

No disrespect to those first two places, but his current stop is a cut above the rest.

“This is completely different than I’ve ever experienced in my entire life, and I truly mean that,” Holmes said Thursday.

In 2021, the Lions hired Holmes to be the general manager and Dan Campbell to take over as head coach. The city’s — and the nation’s — love affair with Campbell has been documented far and wide.

For once, Detroit has a coach that makes fans of other teams point and say: I wish my team had that.

If fans of other teams aren’t also saying that about Holmes, it’s only because they haven’t been paying attention. Holmes is just as important to the operation as Campbell, and, locally, he’s built a legacy just as quickly as he’s built a Super Bowl contender.

Through his first three years, Holmes made 23 draft picks. Two members of his first draft class who’ve set the standard for Detroit’s gritty, hard-working culture — wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive tackle Penei Sewell — are All-Pros.

Running back Jahmyr Gibbs and tight end Sam LaPorta made the Pro Bowl as rookies in 2023, while defensive end Aidan Hutchinson also received the honor in his second season. All but two Holmes picks are still with the team in some capacity.

And it all came to a head — for the first time, anyway — in January, as the Lions claimed a playoff win over Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams, the franchise with whom Holmes gave nearly two decades of service to while climbing his way up the ladder. The Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round the following week, reaching the NFC Championship game for just the second time in franchise history and the first time since Jan. 1992.

Even as a man who mostly operates in the shadows, assistant general manager Ray Agnew can’t even go to his favorite wing spot without getting recognized and told, “You guys are doing great.”

“I’ve enjoyed every minute here in the city of Detroit,” Agnew said. “I probably don’t get noticed as much as my buddy (Holmes) here, but it’s been great, and the fans are all great.”

After the Rams game, Holmes was videoed in an elevator at Ford Field, screaming “Yeah!” over and over again. Many Lions fans could relate. It was the type of run that invoked pure catharsis and joy, and for some of those fans, it was decades in the making. Around that time, running back David Montgomery told a story about a woman approaching him while he was pumping gas, with tears in her eyes, to thank him for the first playoff win.

Holmes might not have been here for all those decades of suffering, but he received a firsthand account from his uncle Luther Bradley, a first-round draft pick of the Lions in 1978, about the type of audience he would have in Detroit.

“He told me, ‘Brad, this… fan base, they’re about as passionate as they can get.’ So I’m thinking, ‘That’s what you’re supposed to say, whatever,’” Holmes recalled. “But no. … I would put our fan base up versus anybody in the league and have full confidence that we are the most passionate.”

While the Lions’ success under Holmes and Campbell has brought out the best types of fan interactions, Holmes didn’t need to wait three years before feeling the love. He remembers his first few months on the job — when he “was a little naïve,” he said — before the Lions had ever played a game and getting stopped by fans while walking through downtown Birmingham.

“I was thinking that I would just be the behind the-scenes guy that just helps build the team. So, me and my family, we were shocked. And we were thinking, ‘OK, this is a one-off,’” Holmes said. “But it just kept happening, kept happening, kept happening, and this is all while (we’re in) a three win season.

“And during a three-win season, it was not, ‘Brad, get the heck out.’ No, it was like, ‘Hey, I’m riding with (you).’ That’s a special group, and it’s always been positive.”

Through all the losing seasons in franchise history, there have been flashes of success that distract from the suffering. But even at their greatest heights, no Lions team has ever felt so built to last as it does in this current era.

Holmes said he still doesn’t have a pair of Cartier Buffs sunglasses, Detroit’s signature accessory. He hopes to get some soon. And for a man who spends all day staring into the Lions’ future, it’s probably a good idea to protect himself from the brightness.