The Detroit Lions are at a bit of a crossroads. Is it time to get aggressive in free agency or stay the course?
The NFL offseason will kick into overdrive on Monday afternoon, with the opening of the free agency tampering period at Noon ET. Starting then, teams will be able to negotiate with agents for players who are set to become free agents. Those negotiations can turn into agreements with new players on new teams that become official on Wednesday.
For fans, it’s an exciting time to see their team add some external talent to improve and fortify their roster. However, it’s always important to remember that “winners” in free agency don’t always turn out to be winners come January. Free agency is expensive, and often teams blow their salary cap on players who are cut well before their new contracts expire.
The Detroit Lions are so close to the finish line. They finished last year as the best regular season team in football, but couldn’t parlay that into postseason success. That has some believing Detroit needs to go all-in this offseason to get over that hump. While others profess patience and not straying from the strategy that has gotten them there.
Today’s Question of the Day is:
How aggressive should the Lions be in free agency?
My answer: Honestly, if the Lions come out of free agency with one new starter and a couple of depth pieces, I think that may be plenty. I don’t see the need to spend a huge, multi-year contract on some big name out there. And that largely has to do with how free agency has worked for the Lions each year. Here are their biggest free agency signings since Brad Holmes took over in 2021.
2021:
- RB Jamaal Williams — two-years, $7 million
- WR Tyrell Williams — one-year, $3 million
- WR Breshad Perriman — one-year, $3 million
2022:
- WR DJ Chark — one-year, $10 million
- CB Mike Hughes — one-year, $3.5 million
- S DeShon Elliott — one-year, $1.4 million
- DT Isaiah Buggs — one-year, $965,000
2023:
- CB Cameron Sutton — three-years, $33 million
- RB David Montgomery — three-years, $18 million
- G Graham Glasgow — one-year, $4.5 million
- DB C.J. Gardner-Johnson — one-year, $8 million
- CB Emmanuel Moseley — one-year, $6 million
2024:
- DT DJ Reader — two-year, $22 million
- EDGE Marcus Davenport — one-year, $6.5 million
- G Kevin Zeitler — one-year, $6 million
- CB Amik Robertson — two-years, $9.25 million
As you can see, the Lions have been very reluctant to spend big in free agency. Just three deals in four years have eclipsed $10 million (Sutton, Montgomery, Reader). We’re not talking $10 million per year; we’re talking about the total value of the contract. Instead, the Lions have been focusing on small, short deals in the hopes of finding someone who can stick around.
Now, the Lions’ strategy has seen mixed success. They struggled to find a WR-X for years because of his strategy, and their cornerback situation remains one in flux. But the good thing about this strategy is that the Lions have never really found themselves in need of getting rid of a bad contract. The one exception is their biggest free agency deal yet: Cam Sutton.
So while it may seem like the Lions are being overly conservative and scraping the bottom of the barrel, the results have given them some significant contributors along the way at below-market prices while also netting them players who never worked out, but didn’t significantly harm their cap situation.
And given that Detroit is already one of four teams (Eagles, Dolphins , Buccaneers) who have five players on $20 million/year contract (Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Alim McNeill, Taylor Decker) and they’re going to have a sixth (Aidan Hutchinson) soon, plus four 2023 draft picks who will need extensions soon, the Lions would be wise to continue this selective, minimalistic approach—if not lean into it even more.
So don’t be surprised if this is a pretty “underwhelming” free agency period, because it has been what’s worked.