Making 50 starts for the Texans and Cardinals during a four-year career, Roy Lopez will join a suddenly higher-profile team. The Lions are adding the veteran nose tackle.
Detroit is bringing in Lopez on a one-year, $4.65MM contract, NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero tweets
. A former sixth-round pick, Lopez will join Alim McNeill
and D.J. Reader
on the Lions’ interior D-line.
The Cardinals used Lopez as a full-time starter last season, after giving him five starts in 2023. Although a low-end investment in a draft that came as the Texans were in full rebuild mode — in the early stages of both Nick Caserio’s GM tenure and the Deshaun Watson drama — Lopez started 29 games over his first two seasons.
Houston did not carry Lopez onto its first DeMeco Ryans roster, waiving him. The Arizona native made his way to his local team as a practice squad presence but moved up to the Cards’ 53-man roster quickly. The 3-4 nose graded as a top-50 interior D-lineman (per Pro Football Focus) in 2023 and has 17 career tackles for loss. Last season, Lopez batted down three passes and forced a fumble.
Extending McNeill and signing Reader last year, the Lions have a few D-linemen of note unattached. The team has not re-signed Levi Onwuzurike or John Cominsky . Backup nose tackle Kyle Peko also remains in free agency. The team has also not seen much from 2023 third-rounder Brodric Martin .